The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had been handed over the probe into the NEET UG 2026 paper leak case, on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against 13 accused involved in the scam, halting a key phase of its investigation into one of India’s biggest exam scandals. The agency submitted the chargesheet to the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi and is scheduled to be placed before the Special Fast Track Court formed to hear paper leak cases on Wednesday.

The agency’s Economic Offences Wing filed the chargesheet, and has been supported by 360 witnesses, 422 documentary exhibits and 43 material objects. All the 13 accused have been booked under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

The accused are in judicial custody, as per officials.

“No evidence of institutional corruption in NTA,” says CBI

CBI officials said that among one of its most significant findings was the fact that it found no evidence of institutional corruption within the National Testing Agency (NTA). As per the probe agency, the CBI sleuths conducted an extensive examination of the NTA’s functioning to ascertain whether any official had accepted money or other favours in lieu of leaking the examination paper. However, the probe did not unearth any evidence of financial corruption or quid pro quo involving NTA officials.

Sources privy to the probe said that the CBI concluded that the paper leak resulted from grave procedural lapses and negligence rather than a criminal conspiracy within the examination authority.

The agency is now likely to recommend stringent departmental action against officials found negligent, besides proposing a comprehensive overhaul of the NTA’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to plug security loopholes in the examination process.

Paper leak network spanned multiple states

CBI officials said they had uncovered a well-organised network operating across several states in a bid to obtain and circulate examination-related material.

Among the ones named in the chargesheet is retired professor and NTA’s former associate Pralhad Vithalrao Kulkarni, who allegedly dictated Chemistry questions during exclusive, close-knit coaching sessions after receiving around Rs 5 lakh. The investigators claim the material was circulated as a ‘guess paper’, but forensic analysis found that nearly 90% of the questions matched the actual Chemistry section questions of the NEET UG 2026 exam.

The agency furthermore alleged that education consultant Manisha Waghmare assisted in organising the coaching sessions.

Coaching owner, doctor among key accused

One of the principal conspirators in the scam has been identified as Shivraj Motegaonkar, owner of a coaching institute in Maharashtra’s Latur. According to CBI sleuths, he allegedly paid as much as Rs 5 lakh to procure the leaked questions and received aid from paediatrician Dr Manoj Bhagwanrao Shirure in accessing the examination paper.

The agency alleged that Motegaonkar obtained the leaked questions on April 23, 2026 at Siddhivinayak Hospital in Latur before the exam and later tried to destroy evidence. Investigators went on to claim that his son, Aditya Motegaonkar, attended Kulkarni’s special coaching session, prepared hand-written notes and helped propagate PDF copies of the leaked questions through the messaging application Telegram.