New Delhi: A senior Botany teacher from Pune, associated with the National Testing Agency (NTA), has been arrested in Delhi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of being involved in the NEET UG 2026 paper leak.
She was one of the masterminds and the source of leaked Biology questions in the medical entrance examination, the CBI has alleged, as per The Times of India.
Identified as Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, she was allegedly associated with the NEET-UG 2026 examination process and had been appointed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) as an expert, giving her access to Botany and Zoology question papers, news agency ANI reported.
During April 2026, she mobilised prospective NEET candidates through Manisha Wagmare of Pune, who had already been arrested on May 14, investigators alleged. She allegedly conducted special coaching classes for students at her Pune residence, during which she is claimed to have disclosed several Botany and Zoology questions and asked students to note them down in notebooks and textbooks, the CBI said.
A majority of those questions matched the actual NEET-UG 2026 question paper conducted on May 3, the agency claimed.
P V Kulkarni, a Chemistry teacher, and his associate Manisha Waghmare were arrested on Friday for their role in the crime.
Kulkarni, said to have spent over three decades in academia, was associated with the NTA as part of the panel involved in setting the question paper. The investigators have been examining the role of individuals involved in preparing the questions.
The CBI said it had conducted searches at six locations across the country and seized several incriminating documents, laptops, bank statements and mobile phones over the last 24 hours. Detailed analysis of the seized material is under way, officials said.
Nine accused have been arrested in the case from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nashik, Pune and Ahilyanagar so far. Five accused have already been sent to seven days’ police custody for interrogation, while two others arrested in Pune were produced before a local court and later shifted to Delhi on transit remand.
