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A Delhi court on Wednesday took cognisance of the CBI chargesheet against 13 accused in the alleged NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak case and said it would begin hearing on framing of charges from Thursday.
A specially designated Fast Track Court at the Rouse Avenue Courts Complex is hearing the case. The Delhi High Court constituted the court to exclusively deal with offences under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, and connected cases.
The CBI filed its chargesheet on July 28, alleging that confidential NEET-UG question papers were leaked before the May 3 examination through a network involving NTA subject experts, middlemen, coaching operators and others.
According to the CBI, three NTA subject experts involved in translation, back-translation and proofreading allegedly took confidential questions out of the NTA office by exploiting security lapses.
The agency alleged that accused PV Kulkarni wrote down all 135 Chemistry questions and their answer options on slips of paper. It also alleged that Manisha Gurunath Mandhare reconstructed questions using NCERT textbooks, while Manisha Sanjay Havaldar noted down Physics questions.
The CBI flagged the absence of frisking of experts and shortcomings in CCTV surveillance, including only 20-25 days of backup and no dedicated live-feed monitoring room.
The agency has cited 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects.
The accused face charges under the BNS, Prevention of Corruption Act and Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act.
The CBI registered the case on May 12 following a complaint from the Department of Higher Education.
The May 3 NEET-UG examination remained cancelled, and a re-examination took place on June 21.
The court is among the first major matters before the newly constituted Fast Track Court, established by the Delhi High Court on July 23 following the announcement of fast-track courts for examination paper leak cases.
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