NEET-UG paper leak case: Delhi court reserves order on CBI's plea for further probe, verdict on Friday

The Rouse Avenue court has reserved its order on CBI's application seeking permission for further investigation in the NEET-UG paper leak case, with the ruling expected on Friday.

The court also deferred arguments on charge after counsel for the accused raised objections regarding the supply of documents filed along with the CBI's charge sheet. The CBI has filed a charge sheet against 13 accused persons in the case, and the court was in the process of hearing arguments on charge when the dispute arose.

Special Judge (Fast Track) Ajay Gupta reserved the order after hearing submissions from CBI's Senior Public Prosecutor V K Pathak, who told the court that the agency wants to further investigate the matter in light of fresh digital evidence that has surfaced, as well as the role of certain persons beyond those already named as accused. Pathak also argued that the accused have no locus to oppose the application at all.

The defence, unsurprisingly, disagreed. Advocate Hemant Shah, along with Akash Mann and Vishal Maan, opposed the plea, submitting that the accused should be heard on the application since it was filed after the charge sheet itself. Advocates Kapil Yadav and Ambika Yadav, appearing for accused Yash Yadav, also opposed it, as did Advocate Akhil Rexwal, representing accused Manisha Sanjay Hawaldar. Advocate A P Singh, appearing via video conferencing for accused Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal and Vikas Biwal, chose not to oppose the application. Advocate Vikram Singh appeared for accused Dhananjay Lokhande.

The developments come days after the court, on August 12, took cognisance of the CBI's charge sheet against the 13 accused in the NEET-UG Paper Leak 2026 case — a mammoth 20,000-page document. Special Judge Ajay Gupta had then listed the matter for hearing arguments on the framing of charges, with all 13 accused produced via video conferencing from Tihar Jail.

The accused named in the charge sheet are Manisha Mandhare, Manisha Sanjay Hawaldar, Manisha Waghmare, Prahlad Vitthal Rao Kulkarni, Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, Dr Manoj Shirure, Tejas Harshad Kumar Shah, Dhananjay Lokhande, Shubham Khairnar, Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal.

The charge sheet invokes offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and destruction of evidence under the BNS, criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and violations under the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. The CBI has cited 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects in the charge sheet. All 13 accused remain in judicial custody.

According to the agency, the case was triggered after the Department of Higher Education, Government of India, filed a written complaint on May 12 flagging irregularities and paper leak allegations in the NEET-UG 2026 exam, which was held on May 3. The CBI registered an FIR the same day and swiftly formed multiple teams comprising 72 officers and personnel, along with eight cyber forensic experts.

Searches were carried out at 92 locations across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and other states, leading to the seizure of digital devices, communication equipment and documents — all of which are undergoing forensic imaging and analysis.

The first arrest in the case was made on May 13, and the tally has since grown to 13, including three NTA subject experts in Chemistry, Biology and Physics. Several middlemen accused of sourcing and distributing the leaked questions have also been identified and arrested, along with two individuals linked to coaching institutes who allegedly obtained the leaked papers from the experts. As part of the money trail probe, the CBI has frozen several bank accounts, bank lockers and a demat account belonging to the accused.

(With inputs from ANI)