New Delhi: Online and offline classes to allegedly leak the NEET-UG 2026 questions were conducted by the accused for select candidates over several months, according to the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Among the purported arrangements to leak the paper was a batch of eight students called “FIFA World Cup 2026”, allegedly brought together by key accused and intermediary Manisha Waghmare, for what were described as “personal coaching lessons” in Pune by biology expert Manisha Mandhare.
While alleged kingpin P.V. Kulkarni conducted online chemistry classes from October 2025 to mid-January 2026, followed by offline sessions in April 2026, Waghmare arranged biology classes by Mandhare in two phases—November-December 2025 and March-April 2026.
Overall, CBI sources said, only a group of 10 students—across the biology and chemistry batches—was allegedly trained using the questions.
“Kulkarni conducted chemistry classes at his residence in Nanded City, Pune, between 25 and 27 April 2026 for two batches comprising nine students. Mandhare’s biology classes at her residence in Pune were attended by eight students. Overall, investigators identified 10 students who, through Waghmare, attended classes with either or both of the accused,” the chargesheet states.
During the biology classes, Mandhare allegedly instructed students to bring new Class 11 and 12 NCERT biology textbooks, mark specific paragraphs and write dictated questions in the margins. The students later allegedly copied these questions into notebooks, which Mandhare reviewed and corrected.
During the three-day offline chemistry sessions between 25 and 27 April this year, Kulkarni allegedly provided students with specific NEET-UG questions and answers in written form, and asked them to copy them into their notebooks.
The chargesheet further says that preparations for the alleged leak had begun around Diwali in October 2025, nearly seven months before the examination, when Waghmare started contacting aspirants, offering exclusive online and offline NEET coaching in Pune promising “results”.
Mandhare allegedly continued following up with prospective candidates until March this year, identifying students willing to pay Rs 4 lakh for access to the paper and arranging offline revision classes. She also conducted offline biology sessions at her Pune residence between 19 March and 24 April, with at least one candidate travelling with her father to attend.
On 1 May, two days before the exam, Waghmare allegedly sent physics questions to one candidate over WhatsApp, asking her to pay an additional Rs 50,000 if those questions appeared in the paper.
According to the chargesheet, at the end of the coaching programme, Waghmare allegedly collected one candidate’s biology notebook, which the student handed over in good faith. “From here the questions then went to others outside this circle and Waghmare made more money,” a source in CBI said.
Investigators also found that Waghmare was operating a WhatsApp group named “NEET 2026”, which included two candidates, along with Kulkarni. The group eventually became one of the leads that helped CBI trace the professor’s alleged involvement in the conspiracy. Kulkarni was on the panel of the National testing Agency that set the question paper and was responsible for translating it to Marathi.
Besides the three arrested National Testing Agency subject experts—PV Kulkarni (chemistry), Manisha Gurunath Mandhare (biology) and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar (physics), CBI has also named Latur-based doctor Manoj Shirure; Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, physics faculty at Pune-based coaching centre Dr Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy (APMA); and Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar of a Latur-based coaching centre in the chargesheet.
In the chargesheet filed before Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court, the agency has cited as many as 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects to press charges, such as criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and others under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita; for offence of criminal misconduct under Prevention of Corruption Act; and for offences under the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 against all 13 accused persons.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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