New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation Sunday arrested a Chemistry coaching teacher from Maharashtra’s Latur for allegedly circulating the leaked NEET UG 2026 question paper ten days before the examination, as the agency pressed its investigation into one of the country’s most far-reaching medical entrance exam scandals.
The accused, Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar— who runs Renukai Chemistry Classes in Latur and a YouTube channel, Motegaonkar Sir’s RCC, with 1.68 lakh subscribers— allegedly obtained the question paper on 23 April, according to court documents submitted by the agency. The examination was scheduled for 3 May.
“…investigation has revealed that Sh. Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar is an active member of the organised gang involved in the leakage and circulation of NEET UG Exam Questions-2026, and that, in conspiracy with other accused persons, he had received the question papers and answers of NEET UG Exam, 2026 prior to the examination, i.e. on 23.04.2026,” a CBI source told ThePrint.
Copies of the leaked paper were recovered from Motegaonkar’s mobile phone during raids on 14 May, investigators said. Motegaonkar was produced before a Pune court Sunday evening, which granted the agency a two-day transit remand to take him to Delhi.
In its remand application, the CBI alleged that Motegaonkar had acted in criminal conspiracy with the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) officials and distributed leaked paper to multiple recipients.
“In criminal conspiracy with the public servants associated with NTA. Investigation further disclosed that the accused Sh. Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, in criminal conspiracy with other accused persons, provided copies of the leaked question papers and answer sheets to several persons…” the application read.
The agency further alleged that Motegaonkar had withheld the full list of recipients and subsequently destroyed the evidence. “Investigation has further revealed that the accused Sh. Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar has not disclosed the names of all the persons to whom he had supplied the handwritten copies of the leaked NEET UG Exam, 2026 question papers. It has also emerged during the investigation that the accused destroyed the leaked question papers after the examination and thereby caused the destruction of evidence,” the CBI alleged.
Motegaonkar’s counsel, Ganesh B. Shirsat, said the agency had not yet disclosed the specific offence attributed to his client. “He has been accused of being a member of an organised crime racket, but without any explanation. He has also been shown to be arrested on the grounds of not disclosing the list of people he allegedly passed on the purported leaked questions without any further explanation as of now,” Shirsat told ThePrint.
The CBI has identified Latur and Pune as epicentres of the 2026 NEET UG leak. Sunday’s arrest follows two earlier ones in the same case: Manisha Mandhare, a Botany professor from Pune, and P.V. Kulkarni, a Chemistry professor from Latur. ThePrint reported earlier that both Mandhare and Kulkarni investigation were on the NTA’s panel of subject experts and had institutional access to the question papers, according to the CBI’s probe.
NTA last week cancelled NEET UG after receiving information about the paper leak. The medical entrance exam will now be held again on 21 June.