The agency also cited the need to recover and analyse digital devices and evidence, including communication records and financial trail connected to the 'paper leak network'.
Key Points
- The CBI sought judicial custody to further investigate the NEET paper leak and identify other individuals involved.
- The CBI is working to recover digital devices and evidence related to the paper leak network.
- The NEET (UG) 2026 exam was cancelled amid allegations of a paper leak, prompting a CBI inquiry.
A Delhi court on Sunday sent accused Shubham Khairnar to judicial custody till June 6 in the NEET paper leak case.
Special judge Ruchi Aggarwal allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea seeking judicial custody of the accused.
Earlier, on May 14, a court had sent Khairnar and four others to CBI custody for seven days, observing that the allegations indicated the role of an "organised gang" involved in leaking and circulating confidential examination papers for monetary gain.
CBI investigation and further custody
Khairnar's custodial interrogation was extended by five days on May 20 after the CBI stated that the accused needed to be further examined to identify and apprehend other co-accused to whom he had sold the NEET-UG 2026 papers.
The agency also cited the need to recover and analyse digital devices and evidence, including communication records and financial trail connected to the "paper leak network".
Unearthing the conspiracy
The CBI had further submitted that the larger conspiracy and source of the leaked question paper had to be unearthed, and the accused had to be taken to various parts of the country, including Nasik in Maharashtra.
According to the CBI, Khairnar also had to be interrogated to identify locations where questions were revealed to certain candidates.
Arrests and court proceedings
Meanwhile, court sources said that Pune-based physics lecturer Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, arrested on Friday, was presently in transit remand and is likely to be produced before the court concerned on Monday.
They added that five other accused will also be produced before the court after their CBI custody ends on May 25.
The CBI has so far arrested 10 accused in the case.
The NEET (UG) 2026 exam for admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges, held on May 3, was cancelled two days later amid allegations of paper leak.
The government has asked the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the "irregularities".
