CBI chargesheet details arrests of 13 accused in NEET paper leak case

The CBI chargesheet in the NEET-UG paper leak case details the sequence of arrests of 13 accused now in judicial custody. Investigators traced the conspiracy through forensic examination of mobile devices, recovering deleted WhatsApp chats and leaked question-paper PDFs

New Delhi: The CBI’s chargesheet in the NEET paper leak case filed before a Delhi court recently has described the “sequence of arrests” in the case in which 13 accused persons are presently in judicial custody.

According to the chargesheet, the agency began its crackdown on May 13, with the first set of arrests of Mangilal, Dinesh and Vikas Biwal in Rajasthan, whose mobile phones contained leaked PDFs received via Telegram on April 29.

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On the same day, the agency arrested Yash Yadav in Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar in Nashik. Khairnar, who used the alias “Ap Broker” on WhatsApp to mask his identity, was found to have coordinated the distribution of leaked chemistry questions.

Another key arrest on May 13 was Dhananjay Lokhande in Pune, who allegedly attempted to destroy his phone to clear evidence before being apprehended.

Manisha Sanjay Waghmare was arrested in Pune the next day. After interrogating them, the agency arrested the alleged mastermind, P V Kulkarni, on May 15 from Latur, followed by Manisha Mandhare from Pune on May 16.

Shivraj Motegaonkar, the founder of a coaching centre in Latur, was picked up on May 17. The final arrests in this were of Manisha Sanjay Havaldar on May 22 from Latur, and Tejas Shah along with Dr Manoj Shirure from Pune and Latur respectively on May 26.

The chargesheet said that the conspiracy was unearthed through forensic imaging of mobile devices, which recovered deleted WhatsApp chats and PDF documents containing the leaked questions.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, is conducted by the NTA for medical aspirants. On May 12, the NTA cancelled the NEET-UG held on May 3 for admissions in medical courses amid allegations of paper leak. A re-examination was conducted on June 21. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan later resigned over the NEET paper leak row following the protests.