Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday produced Shubham Khairnar, who was arrested in connection with the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, before the Killa Court in Mumbai, where the court remanded him to two days of transit custody.
Officials said the accused will now be produced before a Delhi court on Thursday as the agency intensifies its investigation into the nationwide examination leak case.
During the hearing, the CBI informed the court that several accomplices linked to the case are yet to be identified and questioned, making custodial interrogation of the accused necessary. Accepting the agency’s submission, the court granted transit custody of Khairnar for two days.
Shubham Khairnar was detained by the CBI Tuesday afternoon while he was reportedly on his way to a temple to offer prayers. Investigators said he had altered his appearance by cutting his hair in an attempt to avoid identification and evade arrest.
However, officials were able to identify him after comparing his latest appearance with older photographs and through technical surveillance inputs gathered during the investigation.
The development came a day after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination conducted on May 3 for more than 22 lakh candidates across the country, following allegations that the question paper had been leaked prior to the examination.
The controversy first surfaced in Maharashtra’s Nashik, where the initial digital copy of the leaked question paper allegedly appeared before spreading rapidly to other states.
Investigators suspect that Shubham Khairnar, a resident of Nashik, played a key role in the circulation of the leaked examination paper. The CBI has alleged that he purchased the leaked NEET-UG question paper from a Pune-based accused before distributing it further at a profit.
Officials said Khairnar, a 30-year-old resident of the Indiranagar area in Nashik and a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) student, allegedly bought the leaked paper for Rs 10 lakh and later sold it to a buyer in Haryana for Rs 15 lakh, earning a profit of Rs 5 lakh in the process.
The leaked paper is believed to have spread from Maharashtra to multiple states, including Haryana’s Gurugram, Rajasthan’s Jaipur and Sikar, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Kerala, raising serious concerns over the credibility and security of one of the country’s biggest entrance examinations.
The CBI is continuing its probe to identify the full network involved in the alleged paper leak and determine the extent of the conspiracy behind the nationwide scandal.
