How a Teacher and a Hostel Owner Uncovered the NEET-UG 2026 Paper Leak — 135 Questions, 5 States, One Scandal

The NEET-UG 2026 paper leak did not begin with a dramatic police raid or a cybersecurity breakthrough. It began with a disturbing realization in Sikar, Rajasthan — that a so-called “guess paper” circulating before the exam looked far too accurate to be a coincidence.

Most people could have ignored it and moved on. But a few ordinary people chose not to stay silent. That single decision would eventually expose what investigators now suspect was a sprawling multi-state paper leak network stretching across India.

The Day of the Exam

On May 3, after NEET-UG 2026 was held, Shashikant Suthar — a chemistry teacher at GCI Coaching in Sikar — was helping students solve the paper when an acquaintance showed him a PDF.

The PDF contained 45 chemistry questions that had been circulating in Telegram groups as a ‘guess paper’.

Suthar matched them against the real exam paper. All 45 matched.

He then asked a fellow teacher to check roughly 90 biology questions from another PDF. Many matched there, too.

According to the Times of India, investigators later confirmed that 135 questions — 45 Chemistry and 90 Biology — matched exactly between the ‘guess paper’ and the actual exam.

Two Complaints, One Investigation

Suthar went to the local police station late that night. According to CNBC TV18, he was initially asked to return with supporting documents and proof.

But independently, another person had already alerted the authorities. A hostel owner in Sikar — whose students had received the same ‘guess paper’ — filed a formal complaint with Udyog Nagar police station and the National Testing Agency (NTA), alleging that a ‘question bank’ had been distributed before the exam, reported The Hindu.

The material was being circulated through a Telegram group called ‘Private Mafia’ and had allegedly been shared through a local consultant and students staying at the hostel.

Suthar, meanwhile, gathered screenshots, PDFs, and comparison evidence and escalated his complaint to the NTA. According to his account, within about two hours of sharing the information, agencies began moving.

The SOG Investigation

Rajasthan Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) launched its probe on May 8. On the same night, after matching the guess paper with the original question paper, they detained several individuals with the help of the Sikar Police.

What the SOG uncovered was a well-organised network stretching across five states.

The chain, as pieced together by investigators:

• A student from Sikar studying MBBS in Kerala received the material and forwarded it to friends and a hostel owner back home.
• The hostel owner shared it with students, saying it could be helpful for preparation.
• The material was allegedly routed through a person in Gurugram, Haryana.
• The suspected source of the leak was traced to Nashik, Maharashtra, where a man was detained.
• The central figure in the distribution network was Rakesh Mandawaria, a Sikar-based ‘paper solver’ detained on May 8.

According to the SOG, copies were allegedly sold for amounts ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. The SOG questioned over 150 candidates and 70 others across multiple districts before handing over two dozen suspects to the CBI.

The CBI Takes Over

On May 12, the case was handed over to the CBI, which registered an FIR under charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, corruption, and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

The CBI arrested five individuals from Jaipur, Gurugram, and Nashik. Separately, Bihar Police uncovered a ‘solver gang’ in Nalanda district, arresting a second-year MBBS student and two others with forged admit cards and cash.

IG Ajay Pal Lamba of the Rajasthan SOG told the media: “Based on input, it became clear that the paper was sent to Rajasthan, before the exams, by a resident of Haryana. Upon questioning him, it was found that the paper came to him from Nashik, Maharashtra.”

Exam Cancelled

The scale of the leak — affecting an exam taken by roughly 22.79 lakh candidates across 5,400 centres — forced the government to cancel NEET-UG 2026 and order a re-examination.

The decision impacted lakhs of students who had prepared honestly for months.

Who Deserves Credit

Many ordinary citizens are heroes in this story.

Shashikant Suthar spotted the match, gathered evidence, and escalated it when the local system did not respond.

The hostel owner filed a formal complaint that gave the investigation a paper trail. Other students and parents kept the pressure alive on social media. And the SOG and CBI teams followed the evidence across five states.

The NEET-UG 2026 leak was exposed because multiple people, at multiple levels, refused to let it slide. That is the only honest way to tell this story.