NEET 2026 Paper Leak Row: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed a supplementary chargesheet in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, naming one additional private individual before a Delhi court. People familiar with the matter said this concludes the probe. An officer confirmed that no government official has been named.
The first chargesheet, filed on July 28, had named 13 people, including three NTA-appointed subject experts, middlemen and coaching centre representatives.
What the Investigation Found?
Officers said a thorough probe was conducted to establish whether any NTA or other government official was involved, but no such involvement was found. The latest chargesheet also includes findings from forensic experts at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, the Government Examiner of Questioned Documents and Delhi University.
How the Leak Unfolded?
On May 12, NTA cancelled the 2026 NEET test after at least 120 questions in a guess paper were found to be common with the May 3 exam paper. The leak was detected a week after the exam, triggering protests in Parliament and leading to the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan after young people hit the streets under the Cockroach Janta Party banner.
Role of the Subject Experts
According to the first chargesheet, NTA reused the same three experts across multiple stages of preparing the question paper. One of them worked across all four stages, from item-writing to back-translation. They were also allowed to see all four master question sets in the final stage, giving them prolonged exposure to sensitive material.
CBI invoked provisions on criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and destruction of evidence, along with the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. It relied on 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects.
Changes At National Testing Agency (NTA):
The education ministry removed 50 NTA staff members on August 17. NTA said it revamped its examination team, replacing 600 subject experts, and introduced a four-tier question-paper scrutiny system.