The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed that Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, the owner of a coaching centre in Latur, allegedly paid Rs 5 lakh to procure chemistry questions for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) from P V Kulkarni, a member of the National Testing Agency (NTA) panel responsible for setting the questions.
According to the CBI, Motegaonkar’s son attended Kulkarni’s chemistry tutorial classes, where the questions were provided. The agency alleged that Motegaonkar, in conspiracy with co-accused individuals, procured the leaked chemistry questions prior to the exam and paid Rs 5 lakh for them.
The CBI has recovered Motegaonkar’s phone, which contained 36 images of handwritten notes with 132 chemistry questions. Upon analysis, the agency found that 111 of these questions matched with the questions in the NTA’s master question sets prepared for NEET (UG) 2026. The images were taken nearly 10 days before the May 3 NEET (UG) examination.
The agency has also recovered incriminating notes of chemistry questions, allegedly in Motegaonkar’s handwriting, from his mobile phone. Additionally, the money allegedly paid for sourcing 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 currently in judicial custody. The NEET-UG examination was cancelled on May 12 due to allegations of paper leak, and a re-exam was held on June 21.
