New Delhi: Investigations into the NEET question paper leak that shocked the country point to a vast network operating across several states. Officials believe the paper was circulated through an organised chain that extended to multiple parts of India. Following the discovery of the leak, the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the NEET UG examination held on 3 May, meaning nearly 22 lakh students will now have to sit the exam again. The NTA is expected to announce a fresh examination date soon.

Details of the alleged leak have emerged from the investigation being carried out by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police. According to investigators, the leaked question paper was printed in Nashik, Maharashtra, before being transported to Sikar in Rajasthan and then distributed to other parts of the country.

The paper was reportedly circulated under the guise of a “model question paper” for NEET and is believed to have reached several individuals around 15 days before the examination. Investigators suspect the leak originated at a printing press in Nashik. From there, the paper allegedly reached a doctor in Gurugram, Haryana. A Jaipur resident identified as Khatiq is said to have purchased the paper from the doctor before passing it on to Rakesh Kumar in Sikar.

Rakesh Kumar is reported to run an MBBS admission counselling agency in Sikar. Police sources, quoted by national media, claim the paper was subsequently distributed to centres in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Kerala and Uttarakhand.

Investigators have also found that the question paper was sold to aspiring medical students for huge sums of money, ranging from Rs 30,000 to as much as Rs 28 lakh. One student who arrived at a coaching centre in Sikar four days before the examination allegedly paid Rs 28 lakh for the paper. The student reportedly told police they had travelled to Sikar after receiving a phone call from Delhi stating that “the paper has arrived”.

A Kerala connection?

The investigation has also uncovered a Kerala connection. Rajasthan Police travelled to the state while tracing a student originally from Sikar who is currently pursuing MBBS studies in Kerala. Investigators allege that Rakesh Kumar sold the question paper to the student for Rs 30,000.

After receiving the paper, the student allegedly forwarded it to his father, who runs a PG hostel in Sikar, asking him to distribute it among female students staying there. According to investigators, the message read: “Dad, a friend from Sikar sent this to me. Give it to the girls in your hostel. These are the questions for tomorrow’s exam.”

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The father is said to have distributed the paper to students in the hostel. Following the examination on 3 May, he reportedly discussed the paper with a teacher at a coaching centre. It was then discovered that all 90 biology questions and 45 chemistry questions from the circulated paper appeared verbatim in the actual NEET examination. Investigators noted that even the punctuation and structure of the questions matched the so-called “model question paper”.

Alarmed by the similarities, the hostel owner informed the Udyog Nagar Police in Rajasthan. However, he later claimed the complaint was not initially taken seriously. He subsequently approached the NTA, which forwarded the information to the Intelligence Bureau. Acting on the bureau’s instructions, the Rajasthan Police SOG launched a detailed investigation.

Police teams later carried out raids in several parts of the country, including Kerala, in connection with the leak. Rakesh Kumar, the MBBS student from Kerala and 15 others were taken into custody. Reports also indicate that the alleged mastermind behind the operation has been arrested after the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI is said to have detained an individual linked to the printing press in Nashik.

Sikar, often described as a coaching hub comparable to Kota in Rajasthan, attracts thousands of students preparing for competitive examinations such as NEET. Numerous coaching institutes operate in the city, which has now become the focal point of the expanding investigation into the question paper leak.