The CBI on Friday arrested a chemistry professor from Pune on the charge of masterminding the NEET-UG 2026 fiasco.

P.V. Kulkarni was involved in the exam process of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and had access to the question papers, agency sources said.

According to the sources, the probe is now focusing on the wider network, which points to the involvement of some officials associated with the NTA who appear to be directly or indirectly linked to the alleged crime.

The medical entrance test was cancelled because of “irregularities”, the NTA has said.

“With the arrest of Kulkarni, it is evident that insiders linked to the exam process played a role in the breach before the May 3 examination. The accused professor allegedly dictated the questions along with the options and the correct answers to students at private coaching sessions weeks before the test,” said a CBI official.

“He was part of the committee that set the question paper for the exam. The details he dictated were handwritten by students in their notebooks, and have exactly tallied with the actual question paper of the NEET-UG 2026 examination,” an agency official said.

The probe revealed that Kulkarni, a professor of Dayanand Science College in Latur (Maharashtra), allegedly leaked the paper in exchange for a huge sum of money. He is being brought to Delhi on a transit remand.

Kulkarni is alleged to have mobilised the students with the help of Manisha Waghmare, a beautician arrested by the CBI on Thursday. Students reportedly paid several lakhs of rupees each to attend the sessions.

Latur, a major coaching hub for competitive exams in Maharashtra, has now become an important focus area in the probe. A complaint submitted recently by a parent alleged that 42 questions in a mock test conducted by a private coaching institute in the city matched the actual NEET paper.

Sources said the CBI had questioned several officials of the NTA, which conducts the NEET, and sought details of those who had access to the question paper before it was sealed.

The agency is examining records related to question setters, subject experts, professors, teachers and members of the panels involved in preparing the exam paper. Sleuths are also probing the process followed for setting and translating the questions.

The NEET is conducted in 13 languages, requiring multiple translation teams working under strict secrecy rules.

Candidate ‘suicide’

A student who had appeared for the cancelled NEET exam was found hanging in his rented room in Rajasthan’s Sikar on Friday, police said.

Pradeep Meghwal allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister’s scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.