New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested another key accused in connection with the sharing of the physics questions in the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper leak case, officials said on Friday.

The accused, identified as Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, was arrested after a detailed interrogation by the central agency. She is currently employed at Seth Hiralal Saraf Prashala in Pune.

According to the CBI, Havaldar was associated with the NEET-UG 2026 examination process and had been appointed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) as an expert. In this capacity, she had complete access to the physics question papers.

Investigators alleged that during April, she shared several physics questions of the NEET-UG 2026 examination with co-accused Manisha Mandhare, who had earlier been arrested on May 16.

The agency said that the questions shared by Havaldar matched the physics questions that eventually appeared in various NEET-UG 2026 paper sets, establishing her role as a crucial source in the leak.

The CBI also conducted searches at multiple locations across the country as part of the ongoing investigation. During the raids, officials seized several incriminating documents, laptops, bank statements and mobile phones. The agency said forensic and technical analysis of the seized materials is currently underway.

The case was registered by the CBI on May 12 following a written complaint from the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education regarding the leak of NEET-UG 2026 examination papers.

Soon after taking over the investigation, the CBI formed multiple special teams and launched coordinated searches across several states. Several suspects were detained and questioned to trace the origin and network involved in the leak.

Officials said that with the latest arrest, the total number of accused arrested in the case has risen to 11. The arrests have been made from multiple locations, including Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nashik, Pune, Latur and Ahilyanagar.

The probe has so far revealed the alleged involvement of a wider network of middlemen and facilitators who mobilised students willing to pay huge sums of money to access leaked questions through special coaching sessions before the examination.

According to investigators, these middlemen arranged confidential coaching classes where questions that were expected to appear in the NEET-UG 2026 examination were allegedly circulated among students after collecting lakhs of rupees from candidates and their families.

The CBI said efforts are continuing to identify all individuals involved in the conspiracy and to uncover the complete chain of the paper leak racket.

The agency reiterated its commitment to carrying out a “comprehensive, impartial and professional investigation” in the case.

–IANS

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