NEET paper leak: Delhi court sends kingpin Kulkarni, accused Waghmare to 10-day CBI custody

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday sent the alleged kingpin in the NEET paper leak case, P V Kulkarni, and another accused, Manisha Waghmare, to CBI custody for 10 days.

Special CBI judge Ajay Gupta remanded Kulkarni and Waghmare in CBI custody after the probe agency submitted that the duo needed to be taken outside the national capital for further investigation and that the larger conspiracy had to be investigated.

Special Public Prosecutor Neetu Gupta appeared for the federal agency and sought a 14-day remand for the interrogation of the two accused.

During the proceedings, the CBI said that Kulkarni was a subject expert and had been associated with setting up the 2026 NEET UG question paper.

It said that co-accused Dhananjay Lokhande had collected the leaked material from Manisha Waghmare.

Considering the detailed arguments made by the agency and the counsel for the accused, the court remanded the two to CBI custody for 10 days.

According to the CBI, Kulkarni was a lecturer of Chemistry involved in the process of examination on behalf of NTA and had access to the question papers.

It had earlier said that during the last week of April this year, Kulkarni had mobilised students, with the help of Waghmare, and conducted special coaching classes for these students at his residence in Pune.

"He dictated the questions along with options and the correct answers during these special coaching classes, and the questions so dictated were handwritten by students in their notebooks and have exactly tallied with the actual question paper of NEET-UG 2026 Examination held on May 3," the agency had alleged.

Earlier on Friday, the court had sent accused Dhananjay Lokhande to CBI custody for six days.

On Thursday, five others, Shubham Khairnar from Nashik, Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur, and Yash Yadav from Gurugram, were sent to CBI custody till May 20.

The NEET (UG) 2026 exam for admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges, held on May 3, was cancelled on Tuesday amid allegations of paper leak.

The government had asked the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the "irregularities".