The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) arrested five persons and conducted searches at multiple locations across the country in connection with alleged irregularities related to the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper leak. Several other suspects are currently being examined, the agency said.

Accused brothers — Dinesh Biwal and Mangilal Biwal — and Mangilal’s son Vikas Biwal were taken into custody from Jaipur. Yash Yadav was picked up from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik in Maharashtra, it said.

The Maharashtra Police detained two more suspects in the case and handed them over to the CBI. Police nabbed Manisha Waghmare, a beauty salon owner, from Bibwewadi and Dhananjay Lokhande, an ayurveda practitioner, from Rahuri in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The CBI is probing whether the brothers from Jaipur had procured the ‘guess paper’, in which about 120 questions matched the actual question paper, from Gurugram-based ayurvedic medicine student Yash Yadav. It is suspected that the paper was passed on to a counselling agent in Rajasthan’s Sikar, from where it was sold to a large number of people through encrypted messaging applications.

Earlier, the Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG) picked up 15 people for their suspected roles in the paper leak. On the SOG’s request, the Nashik Crime Branch had detained Shubham Khairnar, a 30-year-old Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) student from Nandagaon. He had allegedly bought the ‘guess paper’ and sold it for profit.

The CBI registered the case on Tuesday following a written complaint from the Department of Higher Education, Education Ministry.

“Based on emerging leads, further searches and investigative actions are under way. During the searches and arrests, several incriminating materials and electronic devices, including mobile phones, have been seized. The agency is also coordinating with the Special Operations Group, Rajasthan, which had conducted a preliminary enquiry in the case,” said the agency, adding that the leads are being followed through “extensive technical and forensic analysis”.

In Maharashtra, a senior police officer from Ahilyanagar said the CBI had sought assistance to track Mr. Lokhande and take him into custody. “I have no idea about the link between the arrests in Pune and Nashik, or the detained person’s role. We are not part of investigation,” he said. 

So far, three people have been arrested from Maharashtra. On Tuesday, the Nashik Crime Branch had detained Mr. Khairnar from Indiranagar following which Mumbai’s Killa court granted the CBI his two-day transit remand.

Mr. Lokhande, a native of Mahegaon Mahaduk in Rahuri, graduated in BAMS from Mangaluru and has been practising in Pune. The role of Ms. Waghmare is not yet clear. However, the Pune Police suspect she may have links with Mr. Lokhande. They have seized her phone and laptop.