A routine late-night message between a medical student in Kerala and his father in Rajasthan has triggered one of the most significant exam fraud investigations in recent years, ultimately leading to the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination and a nationwide probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

According to investigators, the discovery was entirely accidental. What began as a forwarded “guess paper” shared hours before the 3 May exam has now exposed what officials describe as a multi-state leak network stretching from Rajasthan and Haryana to Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.

A late-night forward

At about 11 pm on 2 May, an MBBS student from Sikar studying in Kerala received a PDF-formatted “guess paper” from a friend back home. Already enrolled in medical school and not appearing for NEET, he found no use for it, but decided to pass it on to his father, who runs a hostel for coaching students in Sikar.

Knowing his father slept early, he left a message saying the file might help any hostel residents preparing for the exam. The father saw the document the next morning, but the four girls in his hostel sitting for NEET had already left for the test centre.

Out of curiosity, he shared the paper with a local chemistry teacher he knew. That curiosity quickly turned into alarm.

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The chemistry teacher compared the PDF with the NEET question paper after the exam and realised that 45 of 108 chemistry questions were identical. A biology colleague soon verified that 90 of 204 biology questions matched as well.

With 135 questions overlapping, the teacher and hostel owner suspected a serious breach. They approached local police in Sikar, and hit a wall.

According to officials who spoke to NDTV, local police initially declined to register a complaint, suggesting that the duo might have been attempting to have the exam annulled.

Unwilling to give up, the pair emailed the National Testing Agency directly. It was only then, four days after the exam, that the matter began to be taken seriously.

The NTA subsequently alerted the Intelligence Bureau and requested an investigation by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group on 8 May.

Investigators have since corroborated the hostel owner’s account using his phone and WhatsApp records.

Trail leads from Sikar to Haryana, Bihar, J&K, South India and Maharashtra

Once the Rajasthan SOG began probing, the investigation expanded rapidly. Sources say two brothers from Jamwaramgarh, near Jaipur, had sold the leaked paper to a contact in Sikar, and, under questioning, pointed police towards a supplier in Haryana.

The Haryana contact, reportedly a first-year Ayurveda student, is believed to have sold the exam paper for significant sums to candidates in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

From there, the chain extended to Maharashtra, where the Haryana student allegedly obtained the paper from a Nashik student identified as Shubham Khairnar, who was found with a physical copy of the leaked document.

Officials say it is still unclear how far the paper had spread within Sikar itself, prompting the transfer of the case to the CBI for a nationwide investigation.

NTA cancels NEET-UG 2026; fresh exam soon

On Tuesday, the NTA announced the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination, citing the widening investigation. Revised dates will be announced, the agency said, adding that candidates will not need to re-register or pay additional fees. All current applications remain valid.

Investigators have kept the identities of the hostel owner, his son and the teachers confidential for security reasons.