NEET Leak Case: Female Lecturer Arrested
Second ‘Mastermind’ in NEET Paper Leak Case Identified and Arrested: The CBI’s crackdown in the NEET-UG paper leak case is continuing steadily. In a major development, the agency has arrested the second alleged mastermind of the leak from Delhi. The accused, Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, is a senior Botany lecturer from Pune, Maharashtra.
According to the investigation, Manisha was closely associated with the NEET-UG 2026 examination process and had been appointed by the NTA as an expert. In this role, she reportedly had full access to the Botany and Zoology question papers. After several rounds of questioning, the CBI arrested her in Delhi.
This is the second major arrest in the case after PV Kulkarni. Investigators believe Manisha played a key role in the paper leak operation.
The probe further revealed that in April 2026, Manisha allegedly contacted NEET aspirants in Pune and conducted special coaching sessions at her residence. During these classes, she discussed important Botany and Zoology questions and asked students to write them down in notebooks and mark them in their textbooks.
Officials say that many of these questions later appeared in the actual NEET-UG 2026 exam held on May 3, 2026, raising serious concerns about a possible leak of the examination paper before the test.
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