NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested another key accused allegedly involved in the leak of NEET-UG 2026 Physics paper questions, saying the investigation had now uncovered the “actual source” of the leak.
The arrested accused, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, who is employed at Seth Hiralal Saraf Prashala in Pune, was arrested after thorough interrogation by the CBI. “The CBI has identified another key accused who was the source for the leak of NEET-UG 2026 physics questions,” the CBI said.
“She was involved in the NEET UG 2026 examination process and appointed by NTA as an expert. She had complete access to the Physics question paper. During April 2026, she shared some of the questions of the NEET UG 2026 examination pertaining to Physics subject with co-accused Manisha Mandhare, already arrested on 16-05-2026,” it added.
The questions Manisha allegedly shared tallied with the Physics questions in the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper sets, the agency said.
The CBI said the investigation had so far revealed the actual source of the paper leak and identified middlemen allegedly involved in mobilising students who paid lakhs of rupees to attend special coaching classes where leaked questions were shared.
So far, 11 accused have been arrested in the case from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nashik, Pune, Latur and Ahilyanagar.
On Monday, the federal agency arrested the owner of a coaching institute identified as Prof Shivaraj Motegaonkar. He owns RCC Coaching Institute in Latur, Maharashtra, which runs nine branches with its main centre in Latur and prepares students for the NEET-UG examination.
Motegaonkar is alleged to be closely associated with PV Kulkarni, a chemistry lecturer from Latur who was arrested earlier as the main source of the Chemistry paper leak.
Searches conducted at Motegaonkar’s institute and residence led to the recovery of a Chemistry question bank containing questions identical to those that appeared in the NEET-UG exam held on May 3, the agency said.
Last Saturday, the agency arrested another alleged mastermind, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, a senior Botany teacher from Pune, Maharashtra, who it described as the main source of the Biology paper leak.
Mandhare, who was also involved in the examination process on behalf of the National Testing Agency (NTA), was arrested in Delhi following thorough interrogation.
Appointed by the NTA as an expert, Mandhare allegedly held coaching classes at her Pune residence during April 2026, weeks before the examination on May 3, where she explained and disclosed questions from Botany and Zoology subjects to a group of students, the CBI said.
Students attending the sessions noted down the questions in their notebooks and marked them in their textbooks. The majority of these questions later tallied with the actual NEET-UG 2026 question paper, the agency said.
Mandhare is alleged to have mobilised students with the help of Manisha Waghmare of Pune, who was arrested by the CBI on May 14. Students reportedly paid several lakh rupees each to attend the sessions.
Notably, Mandhare's arrest came after the CBI had arrested Kulkarni for the alleged Chemistry paper leak.
Kulkarni, who was involved in conducting the NEET-UG 2026 examination on behalf of the NTA, allegedly held similar coaching classes at his Pune residence during the last week of April, orally dictating questions, answer options and correct responses to students. Those handwritten notes were later found to match the actual question paper exactly, the agency said.
On May 12, the National Testing Agency cancelled the examination, which had been taken by nearly 23 lakh aspiring medical students on May 3, after concluding there was evidence it had been compromised.
A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21. The CBI registered a case the same day based on a written complaint by the Department of Higher Education under the Education Ministry.
Notably, the CBI said it had conducted searches at various locations across the country and seized several incriminating documents, laptops, bank statements and mobile phones. A detailed analysis of the seized items is underway.
Five people were arrested on May 13 — three members of the Biwal family from Jaipur, one person from Gurugram near New Delhi, and another from Nashik in Maharashtra. Two further arrests followed, with Dhananjay Lokhanda from the Rahuri area of Ahilyanagar district and Manisha Waghmare from Pune handed over to the CBI by Maharashtra Police. Kulkarni was arrested on May 15.
The federal agency believes the paper was circulated through a multi-state network of intermediaries, some linked to coaching centres, with students allegedly paying between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for access.
“The middlemen, involved in mobilising students who paid lakhs of rupees to attend special coaching classes where the leaked questions were shared, have been identified and arrested,” the spokesperson said.