After Bio & Chemistry, comes Physics: CBI makes 11th arrest in NEET leak case, nabs NTA expert from Pune

Manisha Sanjay Havaldar had access to the entire Physics question paper & passed on questions to another prime accused, Manisha Mandhare.

Security personnel and civic officials gathered at the sealed premises of RCC Coaching Classes following action by the Pune Municipal Corporation in connection with the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, in Pune on Wednesday. The institute is owned by Shivraj Motegaonkar, who was arrested by the CBI last week. | PMC/ANI Photo

New Delhi: Continuing its investigation into the leaked questions of this year’s NEET-UG examination, the Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested another subject expert with the National Testing Agency.

A CBI spokesperson said that investigators arrested one Manisha Sanjay Havaldar for allegedly leaking the Physics questions that eventually appeared on the day of the examination on 3rd May. Employed with Pune’s Seth Hiralal Saraf Prashala, Havaldar was involved in the NEET UG 2026 examination process and appointed by NTA as an expert, an agency spokesperson said Friday.

She allegedly had access to the subject’s entire question paper and passed on questions to another prime accused, Manisha Mandhare. A beautician by profession in Pune, Mandhare was arrested by the CBI Saturday for allegedly passing on leaked question papers from NTA subject experts.

Havaldar is the 11th accused to be arrested in the case which the central agency took over on 12 May amid furore over the compromise in the sanctity of the examination process.

The agency had earlier arrested one Chemistry professor, Praveen Kulkarni, who worked both as a subject expert on the panel of the NTA as well as a translator from English to Marathi.

From Kulkarni, the leaked question paper had reached Mandhare, who allegedly further passed on to one Dhananjay Lokhande, who in turn passed it on to Nashik resident Shubham Khairnar.

(Edited by Niyati Kothiyal)