New Delhi, August 7: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has detailed the arrest of 13 accused in its chargesheet filed before a Delhi court in the NEET paper leak case, outlining how investigators uncovered the alleged examination leak through digital forensic evidence.
According to the chargesheet, all 13 accused are currently in judicial custody.
CBI Traces NEET Paper Leak Through Digital Evidence
The CBI said its operation began on May 13, when it arrested Mangilal, Dinesh and Vikas Biwal in Rajasthan after recovering leaked NEET question paper PDFs from their mobile phones. Investigators alleged the files had been received through Telegram on April 29.
On the same day, the agency arrested Yash Yadav in Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar in Nashik. Khairnar allegedly used the WhatsApp alias “Ap Broker” to coordinate the circulation of leaked chemistry questions.
The CBI also arrested Dhananjay Lokhande in Pune, alleging that he attempted to destroy his mobile phone before investigators seized it.
On May 14, Manisha Sanjay Waghmare was arrested in Pune. Based on subsequent questioning, the agency arrested the alleged mastermind, P V Kulkarni, from Latur on May 15, followed by Manisha Mandhare from Pune on May 16.
The investigation continued with the arrest of Shivraj Motegaonkar, founder of a coaching centre in Latur, on May 17. The final arrests were made on May 22 and May 26, when Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, Tejas Shah, and Dr Manoj Shirure were taken into custody.
According to the chargesheet, forensic examination of seized mobile devices helped investigators recover deleted WhatsApp chats and PDF documents that allegedly contained the leaked examination questions.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to undergraduate medical courses. Following allegations of a paper leak, the NTA cancelled the examination conducted on May 3 and held a re examination on June 21.
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