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The Central Bureau of Investigation has widened its probe into the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and brought parents suspected of purchasing leaked question papers for their children under direct scrutiny.
The investigation initially focused on paper solvers, middlemen, and masterminds. However, officials now believe several wealthy families knowingly paid large sums to secure medical admissions for their children before the May 3 NEET-UG examination.
Over the weekend, multiple CBI teams carried out coordinated searches across Nanded and Latur after receiving intelligence inputs about families allegedly linked to the leak network. Officials said a team of eight officers raided three to four premises, including a residence in Nanded’s Vidyut Nagar area, where a student who appeared for the examination lives.
Investigators questioned the girl’s parents for more than eight hours. During the interrogation, officials examined electronic devices, bank records, mobile phones, and communication data, including phone calls and messages exchanged among family members and suspected intermediaries.
Officials say that the student’s father, a businessman, paid nearly ₹10 lakh for access to leaked question papers. Investigators suspect he paid ₹5 lakh to a middleman and transferred another ₹5 lakh to a separate individual linked to the operation.
Officials now believe the racket stretched far beyond a small group of paper setters and brokers. Investigators suspect a wider network involving coaching-linked operators, facilitators, and families functioned across Maharashtra’s major education centres.
Coaching Institutes Under Investigation
The probe has also intensified scrutiny on the competitive coaching ecosystem that dominates NEET preparation across the state. Investigators are examining whether some institutes limited themselves to training students or quietly became contact points within the leak network.
Officials are probing the student’s links to a coaching institute in Pune, where she reportedly stayed for nearly 15 days while preparing. At the same time, investigators are examining claims connected to a private institute identified as AIB. The institute displayed promotional flex banners featuring photographs of top-performing students under the tagline “The Results To Come”.
Investigators are verifying whether projected examination performance was connected to prior access to leaked papers.
AIB’s Atul More confirmed that the student studied at the institute and repeated NEET this year. He said that she usually scored between 400 and 450 marks in mock tests. He also claimed she had not attended the institute during the final 15 days before the examination.
Meanwhile, searches continued at the residences of other parents in Nanded on Sunday before another CBI team moved towards Latur. Investigators also searched the office of Renukai Chemistry Classes in Latur’s Shivnagar locality. Officials questioned its founder, Shivraj Motegaonkar, for nearly eight hours earlier this week.
Money Trail and Wider Network
Officials believe the leak network operated through a chain spread across Pune, Latur, Nanded, Nashik, Beed, Ahilyanagar, and nearby districts.
Investigators suspect some parents circulated leaked papers among trusted contacts to recover part of the money they had spent. Officials said several families allegedly paid amounts ranging between ₹10 lakh and ₹25 lakh for advance access to question papers.
The CBI has already arrested several accused in connection with the case, including alleged masterminds, intermediaries, and paper solvers. Investigators are now tracing the money trail, identifying beneficiaries and examining how leaked papers moved through coaching circles, personal networks, and financial handlers before reaching candidates.
Officials also suspect the accused masterminds used extensive student databases from the coaching sector to identify potential buyers and circulate leaked examination material discreetly.
Senior officials indicated that further raids and interrogations are likely in the coming days. Investigators are also examining whether similar transactions occurred in other districts and whether more candidates benefited from leaked papers.
The families questioned by the CBI could not immediately be reached for comment.
