Student arrested in NEET-UG case, paid Rs 10 lakh for leaked paper: Sources

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took a 30-year-old Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) student into custody from Maharashtra's Nashik in connection with the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, officials said.

The accused has been identified as Shubham Khairnar. He allegedly bought the "guess paper" that is at the centre of the 2026 NEET-UG question paper "leak" scandal for Rs 10 lakh from another suspect based in Pune, and sold it further for Rs 15 lakh to a Haryana-based buyer, sources within the police said.

As many as four teams of the Central Bureau of Investigation, which has



been tasked by the Centre with investigating the alleged paper leak, reportedly arrived in Nashik to take custody of Khairnar.

He was initially detained by the Nashik Crime Branch, which later handed him over to the central agency.

The fresh arrest in the widening probe has also cast fresh doubts over the earlier theory that the paper was leaked directly from a Nashik printing press, with police sources now saying the exam paper was not printed there.

Dr Madhukar Khairnar, Shubham's father and a doctor by profession, has denied the allegations against his son and asserted that he is innocent.