- The CBI chargesheet reveals flaws in NTA's NEET-UG 2026 paper-setting process
- Multiple experts accessed and retained final question papers, increasing leak risk
- Experts used confidential sheets and textbooks to record and reproduce questions
The CBI chargesheet in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case points to several shortcomings in the National Testing Agency's (NTA) confidential paper-setting process, which allowed subject experts to access, retain and ultimately leak examination material.
The agency says the process permitted multiple experts to handle final question papers across different stages of preparation. The chargesheet says that, ideally, "the visibility of all the final question sets to any one expert should be avoided to prevent the chance of a leak." However, investigators say that "in the process actually followed for the NEET-UG 2026 examination, it is found that many experts were involved in multiple stages."
It adds that "from the moderation stage onwards, the experts concerned had full access to the final sets of questions, while in the translation/back-translation stage a single expert could see all four of the final master sets."
According to the chargesheet, experts were provided with plain sheets inside the confidential section for rough work during translation and back-translation. Accused chemistry expert PV Kulkarni allegedly used these sheets during translation work "to note down, on small chits, all 135 questions of Chemistry in brief."
Read | Memorising Questions, Using Chits: How Testing Agency Experts Leaked NEET Paper
The agency says for the simpler questions the accused "could simply remember them and write them down in a book once he returned to his room in the hotel at the end of the day."
In another instance, investigators allege that NTA botany expert Manisha Mandhare repeatedly referred to NCERT textbooks while translating the paper, noting down paragraphs that corresponded with confidential questions. "Due to her decades of experience with the same material, she was able to correlate the questions with the NCERT textbook material," the chargesheet states.
The CBI has also flagged serious surveillance lapses at the NTA headquarters in Delhi's NSIC Building in Okhla area. According to the chargesheet, the Confidential Section where NEET-UG papers were handled had CCTV backup for only 20-25 days. Since the confidential work ended on April 7 and the case was registered on May 12, footage from the relevant period was no longer available.
Investigators also found that the NTA had no dedicated CCTV monitoring control room, allowing activities inside the confidential section to go unnoticed.
"There was no dedicated CCTV live feed monitoring control room in NTA, as a result of which the activities of the experts in the confidential hall went unnoticed," the chargesheet said.
The investigation also revealed that experts working in the NTA's confidential section were not subjected to frisking while entering or leaving the premises. "There was no practice of checking/frisking of experts during entry/exit from the confidential section at NTA."
According to the CBI, the accused experts, despite signing confidentiality declarations, retained, reproduced and circulated confidential questions before NEET-UG 2026, forming the basis of the alleged paper leak conspiracy.
The 94-page CBI document details how three subject experts who were part of the National Testing Agency (NTA) team tasked with framing the question paper allegedly leaked the questions.
The chargesheet has named PV Kulkarni, Manisha Mandhare and Manisha Havaldar as the main sources of the paper leak.
