Reportedly, as many as 4 units of the CBI reached Maharashtra’s Nashik to assume wardship of the accused, a 30-year-old BAMS trainee named Shubham Khairnar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday detained a 30-year-old Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medication and Surgical Treatment (BAMS) student right inot guardianship from Maharashtra’s Nashik in connection with the suspected NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, authrorities stated.
The accused has been identified as Shubham Khairnar. Sources inside the authorities said that he allegedly purchased the “assumption paper” that is at the heart of the 2026 NEET-UG investigation paper “leakage” myth for Rs 10 lakh from another suspect headquartered in Pune, and sold it further for Rs 15 lakh to a Haryana-based customer.
Four teams of the Central Bureau of Examination, which has been assigned by the Centre to investigate the alleged paper leak, reportedly arrived in Nashik to take custody of Khairnar.
He was first held by the Nashik Crime Branch, who eventually turned him over to the main business.
The recent arrest in the growing case has raised further concerns regarding the prior assumption that the paper was dripping directly from a Nashik printing machine. Authorities sources say the exam paper was not released they’re.
As per Shubham’s papa and a doctor by profession, Dr Madhukar Khairnar has genuinely denied the allegations against his son and declared his innocence.
NEET-UG 2026 PAPER LEAK: QUICK REVIEW
The National Testing Company (NTA) conducted the National Qualification cum Entrance Examination (NEET) on May 3 for students seeking admission to medical education and learning training courses at the undergraduate level. Around 22 lakh students took the medical entrance exams.
Over a week later, on Tuesday, May 12, the NTA cancelled the examination as a fast-growing controversy over the alleged leaking of the question paper and action taken by the police in Rajasthan erupted. National Testing Company acknowledges data relating to the action launched by the Special Procedures Team of Rajasthan in connection with suspected anomalies regarding NEET (UG) 2026. “The assessment on Might 3, 2026 was performed as deliberate and below a full safety protocol,” the NTA said in a post on X on Might 10.
Inputs on alleged carelessness were collected on the evening of May 7, four days after the test, and were sent to the central companies on the morning of May 8 for “independent verification and required action,” the exam conducting body said.
It said the action taken by law enforcement agencies, including recent detentions highlighted in the media, was a consequence of the “specialist and prompt work” of the checking out firms.
The MIght 12 declaration by the NTA about the cancellation of the 2026 NEET-UG assessment came on the heels of developments in Rajasthan, where the state police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) had been infiltrating allegations that the concerned paper of the entrance exam had dripped just days before the May 3 exam. ‘ MYSTERY OF THE ‘HUNCH PAPER’
Details of the Rajasthan SOG inquiry which surfaced over the previous 2 days said a series of handwritten issues which were apparently part of a “hunch paper” largely matched the real test material.
Guess papers are often practice questions created by instructors on the basis of past years’ patterns.
In the hunch paper of 281 questions, all 90 questions of Biology and all 45 questions of Chemistry asked in the NEET test were found. Total worries in the NEET test are 180 and each worry carries 4 points.
So far, a number of arrests have been made in connection with the alleged violations.
