CBI Alleges Latur Coaching Owner Paid ₹5 Lakh for Leaked NEET Questions from NTA Paper-Setter
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told a special court that Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, owner of a coaching centre in Latur, allegedly paid ₹5 lakh to procure chemistry questions for the NEET (UG) examination from P.V. Kulkarni, a member of the National Testing Agency (NTA) panel that set the exam questions.
In its response to a bail application filed by Motegaonkar, the agency alleged that Motegaonkar conspired with co-accused individuals to obtain leaked NEET (UG) chemistry questions before the exam. The payment of ₹5 lakh was made for these questions, the CBI claimed.
The agency further stated that Motegaonkar’s son attended Kulkarni’s coaching classes, where the questions were provided. Motegaonkar is accused of preparing handwritten notes from the questions presented during these chemistry tutorial sessions.
The CBI recovered Motegaonkar’s phone, which contained 36 images (five duplicates) showing 132 handwritten chemistry questions. According to the agency, forensic analysis revealed that 111 of these questions match the NTA’s master question sets for NEET (UG) 2026. The images were reportedly taken nearly 10 days before the examination date of May 3.
Additional evidence cited by the CBI includes incriminating notes on chemistry questions allegedly in Motegaonkar’s handwriting. The money purportedly paid for the leaked questions was recovered by the CBI at the instance of co-accused Manoj Bhagwanrao Shirure.
The CBI has arrested 13 individuals in connection with the case, all of whom are in judicial custody. The NTA had cancelled the NEET-UG examination held on May 3 after allegations of a paper leak, and a re-examination was conducted on June 21.
