Two teachers, two sides in NEET leak: Pune prof named kingpin, Rajasthan teacher turns whistleblower

Jaipur, May 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) The NEET-UG 2026 paper leak scandal has shocked the nation, with new revelations emerging at every stage during the investigation. At the heart of the controversy is a striking contrast involving two teachers whose roles have drawn sharp attention in the scam.

A chemistry professor from Pune, arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is alleged to be the key source behind the NEET-UG paper leak. In contrast, a teacher from Rajasthan has emerged as a whistleblower after he reportedly noticed unusual similarities in the question paper and promptly alerted the authorities.

As investigators dig deeper into the case affecting nearly 23 lakh students, the story has become not just about an alleged leak, but about two teachers who ended up on completely opposite sides of one of India’s biggest examination controversies.

One is accused of masterminding the leak. The other helped bring the entire scandal into the national spotlight. Claiming a major breakthrough in the investigation, the CBI arrested Pune-based chemistry professor, PV Kulkarni, describing him as the alleged “kingpin” of the conspiracy.

According to the agency, Kulkarni is believed to have had access to NEET examination papers through his involvement in the process on behalf of the National Testing Agency (NTA), and is accused of misusing that access to pass on questions to students. While investigators continue to examine the alleged source of the breach, the Rajasthan teacher is being credited with first flagging the irregularities, an intervention that helped bring the matter under scrutiny instead of allowing it to go unnoticed.

Long before the case became a national headline, the teacher from Sikar sensed that something was terribly wrong, and he refused to ignore the signs. Just hours after the NEET examination concluded on May 4, the teacher, associated with a reputed coaching institute in Rajasthan’s coaching hub, reportedly walked into the Udyog Nagar police station around 1:30 am carrying a suspicious set of papers. At first, the documents appeared to be nothing more than a handwritten “guess paper.” But the deeper he looked, the more unsettling the similarities became. Initially, nobody treated the document seriously. Guess papers are common during major examinations.

However, when the teacher carefully compared the contents with the actual NEET question paper, he was stunned. The alleged document, said to be about 60 pages, reportedly contained around 90 chemistry questions that matched the real exam, along with several biology questions. That was the moment suspicion turned into concern.

The teacher first approached the local police station and shared his doubts. Officials reportedly asked him to submit a written complaint, but at that point, no formal FIR was registered. He even reached out to a few media persons, but his claims initially failed to attract attention. For many, it sounded impossible that the country’s biggest medical entrance exam could have been compromised on such a massive scale. But the teacher did not give up. Understanding the seriousness of the issue, he sent a formal complaint to the National Testing Agency (NTA) by email on the night of May 7 itself.

In that email, he reportedly made a remarkable offer; he was ready to hand over his mobile phone for forensic investigation if required. He urged authorities to conduct an independent probe, warning that the future of millions of students was at stake. That email proved to be the turning point. After receiving the complaint, the NTA reportedly alerted central agencies.

Soon, Rajasthan’s Special Operations Group (SOG) began investigating the matter, and the case was later transferred to the CBI. During the initial probe, agencies reportedly found no evidence linking the Sikar teacher to the alleged leak network.

Officials noticed that the documents had reached him only after the examination had ended. Investigators are now trying to determine how widely the paper circulated, who benefited from it, and whether a larger organised network was operating behind the scenes. CBI is trying to establish the geographical extent of the paper leak network across states.

Over the past 24 hours, the CBI has also conducted raids at multiple locations across the country. Several crucial documents, electronic devices, and mobile phones have been seized and are now undergoing forensic and technical analysis, which will give more clues in the case. Eight accused have been arrested from Jaipur, Gurugram, Nashik, Pune, and Ahilyanagar. Five of the accused were produced before a court on Thursday and remanded in custody for seven days.

-- IANS

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Source: IANS