New Delhi/Jaipur: The CBI arrested five persons and conducted searches at multiple locations across the country in the NEET UG paper leak case as protests over the cancellation of the examination intensified on Wednesday and the chorus for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation grew louder.
During the day, a plea was filed in the Supreme Court by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) seeking a complete overhaul of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and its replacement with a “technologically advanced and autonomous body” to restore the integrity of medical entrance exams.
A political blame game also erupted with the Congress and the TMC claiming some of the arrested were associated with the BJP.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay said the paper leak and cancellation of the exam were proof of structural flaws and demanded that it be abolished and states permitted to fill seats on their own based on Class 12 marks.
He said governments of Tamil Nadu have been consistently and unanimously opposing NEET since its very inception as its introduction has severely disadvantaged the students from rural areas, government schools, Tamil medium backgrounds, and socio-economically disadvantaged families.
The NEET (UG) 2026 exam for admissions in undergraduate medical courses held on May 3 was cancelled by the NTA on Tuesday amid allegations of paper leak which is now being probed by the CBI. The cancellation of the exam has left over 22 lakh medical aspirants and their families in a lurch.
On Wednesday, protests were held at many places by student wings of several political parties with NSUI and IYC members demanding the resignation of Pradhan and a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
Members of ABVP and SFI also staged protests.
Rajasthan Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG), which initiated the probe into the leak, found that the origins of a guess paper containing questions similar to those asked in the exam were traced to a student from Sikar district pursuing MBBS in Kerala who went on to share it with his friends and a hostel owner.
The CBI arrested Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur, Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik with several other suspects being quizzed in various cities and might be arrested later, officials said.
Among the arrested, Khairnar (30) is being brought to Delhi for further questioning after a local magistrate court sent him to transit remand of the agency.
The CBI, during the searches, seized a number of digital devices including mobile phones, laptops etc from the suspects which will be sent for forensic examination to get a trail of messaging applications on which the papers were circulated.
Earlier, the CBI visited the NTA headquarters in Delhi to collect documents related to the NEET UG examination.
SOG IG Ajay Pal Lamba said the Sikar student first received the guess material from a friend and shared it with others in Sikar. It subsequently reached several coaching students and later reached candidates in Jaipur and nearby areas before the exam on May 3.
Another official said the student from Kerala forwarded the guess paper with a hostel owner in Sikar and some of his friends. The hostel owner shared the paper to students living in the hostel, saying it could be helpful.
However, the hostel owner himself later tipped off the local police about the guess paper. He had informed that a question bank had been distributed among a large number of students.
Officials said the material was allegedly routed through a person based in Gurugram before reaching Rajasthan.
Acting on inputs, joint teams of police from Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Alwar, Jaipur City, Jaipur Rural and the SOG questioned more than 150 candidates, along with their friends and parents.
It is suspected that the paper leak happened from Nashik, sources said.
A CBI team reached late Tuesday evening at the SOG office to take over the investigation.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal addressed a press conference and urged Gen Z to ensure that those behind the alleged NEET paper leak are brought to justice, saying that if the youth in Bangladesh and Nepal could bring political change, Indian students could also force accountability.
He cited paper leak incidents since 2014 and said the lapses affected the future of crores of students. He alleged that several such incidents had taken place in states ruled by the BJP.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan minister Jhabar Singh Kharra apologised to students over the paper leak and subsequent cancellation of the examination.
Speaking to reporters after a programme in Jhunjhunu, he said, “I apologise on behalf of the Government of India, the Rajasthan government and also at a personal level for the hardship caused to hardworking students.”
On the other hand, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot claimed that Dinesh Biwal is a BJP leader and the state government tried to suppress the matter.
“The accused arrested in the NEET paper leak case, Dinesh Binwal, is a functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” he claimed in a post on X.
Gehlot posted a photo of a poster of Dinesh in which he is shown as BJYM district secretary in Jaipur rural.
Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad claimed that two accused persons from Rajasthan have links with BJP leaders and ministers.
“Now it is clear that Dinesh Biwal and Mangilal Biwal are from Rajasthan and they have been seen with BJP leaders and ministers. They paid Rs 3 lakh for it and leaked it. It is said they possibly have connections with the Education Ministry in Delhi as well,” he alleged.
Some social media accounts shared photographs purportedly showing Dinesh with senior BJP leaders and ministers from Rajasthan.
BJP state vice president Mukesh Dadhich said Dinesh holds no post in the party.
Gehlot asked whether this was the reason why the BJP government in Rajasthan tried to suppress the NEET paper leak and did not register any FIR.
“I have been asking since May 11 why the BJP government was not filing an FIR. Now the BJP’s truth has been exposed,” he said, adding, “Is the BJP government now protecting the paper leak mafia that is playing with the future of the youth.”
Meanwhile, Dinesh’s family members said he and his brother were detained by police. They said both the brothers were innocent and falsely implicated.
Their mother Prabhu Devi said Dinesh is a good friend of the local MLA and she had talked to the MLA after he was taken by police.
“My sons are innocent. They have been falsely implicated. I called the MLA and asked him to see why he was taken,” she said.
Dinesh’s wife Rajni said her husband cannot be involved in such a case. She said she was in Sikar with her son for the preparations of NEET.
