Published May 12, 2026 | 1:08 PM ⚊ Updated May 12, 2026 | 1:08 PM
As many as 22 lakh students have taken the exam. (Representative image.)
Synopsis: Rajasthan’s Special Operations Group (SOG) found a PDF file of approximately 150 pages circulating on students’ phones, containing over 400 questions. Of those, roughly 120 are said to have matched questions that appeared in the actual chemistry section of the 3 May paper.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday, 12 May, cancelled the NEET UG 2026 examination held on 3 May, confirming what many students and Opposition leaders had feared for days: the country’s most consequential medical entrance test had been compromised.
The decision, taken with the approval of the Government of India, came after investigative inputs shared by law enforcement agencies left authorities with little choice. A fresh exam date will be announced separately. The CBI has been ordered to conduct a comprehensive inquiry.
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Rajasthan’s Special Operations Group (SOG) found a PDF file of approximately 150 pages circulating on students’ phones, containing over 400 questions. Of those, roughly 120 are said to have matched questions that appeared in the actual chemistry section of the 3 May paper.
According to SOG’s ADGP Vishal Bansal, the document was in circulation as far back as a month before the examination.
“There are various misconceptions regarding the NEET exam,” Bansal told journalists in Jaipur. “This guess paper was with students weeks before the examination.” He added that no arrests have been made yet and the investigation is centred on establishing whether cheating or a criminal act was committed.
What makes this case unusual, Bansal noted, is its public nature. Traditional paper leak networks are secretive operations; masterminds typically make students memorise answers the night before the exam without ever sharing copies. The wide circulation of this document, he said, complicates the task of tracing its origin.
NTA said it received inputs about alleged malpractice on the evening of 7 May, four days after the exam, and escalated the matter to central agencies the following morning of May 8 for independent verification.
In its 10 May press note, the agency had taken pains to defend the robustness of the examination process. It stated that question papers were transported in GPS-tracked vehicles bearing “unique, traceable watermark identifiers,” that examination halls operated under “AI-assisted CCTV monitoring from a central control room,” and that every candidate underwent biometric verification with “5G jammers in operation.” The examination, it had said, “proceeded as planned across all centres on the day.”
Two days later, that carefully constructed defence gave way.
In its Tuesday statement, NTA acknowledged what the investigation had forced it to concede: “The inputs received by NTA, taken together with the findings shared by the law enforcement agencies, established that the present examination process could not be allowed to stand.”
The agency was deliberate in its language around the CBI referral: “The Government of India has further decided to refer the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation for a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations therein. NTA will extend full cooperation to the Bureau and will provide all materials, records, and assistance the inquiry requires.”
It also addressed the trust that underpins the entire examination system. “This decision has been taken in the interest of students and in recognition of the trust on which the national examination system rests,” NTA said, before adding a rare public admission of the cost its own decision would impose.
“The Agency is conscious that re-conduct will cause real and significant inconvenience to candidates and their families. NTA does not take that consequence lightly. The decision has been taken because the alternative would have caused greater and more lasting damage to that trust,” it said.
On the question of the integrity of students who played no part in any wrongdoing, NTA was pointed: “The effort and integrity of the very large majority of bona-fide aspirants is not in question, and will not be devalued.”
NTA has moved to minimise the procedural burden on the 22 lakh students who took the exam.
Registration data, candidature details, and exam centre choices will carry forward automatically to the re-conducted exam. No fresh registration is required, and no additional fee will be charged. Fees already paid will be refunded. The new exam date and admit card schedule will be communicated through official channels in the coming days.
The agency also urged students and parents to rely only on official communications.
“Candidates and parents are requested to rely only on these official channels and to disregard unverified reports circulating on social media,” NTA said.
The Opposition moved quickly.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge drew a pattern stretching back a decade: “At least four NEET papers have leaked so far – 2026, 2024, 2021, 2016.” He asked pointedly: “In Sikar, Rajasthan, a handwritten guess paper is available before the exam, out of which 135 questions directly match the actual NEET paper. This was being sold openly and rampantly, and the central government had no inkling of it?”
Rahul Gandhi posted on X that “NEET 2026 has become an auction, with papers allegedly sold on WhatsApp,” calling it a shattering of trust for 22 lakh students who had worked tirelessly through the year. “No one poses a greater threat to the dreams of India’s youth than the Modi government,” he wrote.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the paper leak mafia operates under political protection. “The mafia involved in paper leaks and the leaders providing them protection are enemies of the country. Governments have become partners in this crime,” he said, urging young people to “launch a decisive nationwide fight” against what he described as a systemic rot.
The Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA), Telangana, issued a sharp condemnation, calling the incident “an assault on merit, fairness, and the future of honest aspirants.”
The association demanded fast-track CBI proceedings, criminal prosecution under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act, permanent debarment of candidates who knowingly benefited from leaked material, and structural reforms including encrypted paper transmission and independent audit mechanisms for all future national examinations.
“Unless exemplary legal action is taken, public confidence in national examinations will continue to erode,” the HRDA said.
This is not the first time NEET has been at the centre of a controversy. The 2024 edition was mired in allegations of paper leaks and grace marks, triggering nationwide protests and a Supreme Court hearing.
Critics argued that each cycle of scandal followed by limited accountability has emboldened the networks that profit from compromising these exams.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
