“Sir, what should I do?” almost two hours after the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) was conducted on May 3, Satish (name changed) reached out to a senior teacher of his coaching institute in Rajasthan’s Sikar, Rajat (name changed), with two PDFs of a so called ‘guess paper’ forwarded by his landlord that apparently matched around 135 questions to the original exam paper.
Rajat, who is a senior teacher and also one of the key operators of the institute, was meeting the students who just returned from the exam centres and was discussing about the exam. “Most of them were happy as their exam went well while some were also anxious about the result. Soon Satish came to me with the PDFs, I took him to my office separately as I didn’t want to discuss about such a sensitive matter in front the students,” said Rajat.
It took around 3 hours for both the teachers to analyse the questions thoroughly.
By 9 pm, they identified 45 questions of chemistry and 90 questions of biology matched to the original exam paper.
One of the PDFs consisted of approximately 60 pages and contained chemistry questions. The said PDF included around 104 (29 + 45 + 30) questions. The chemistry material appeared to be handwritten/scanned in nature.
The second PDF consisted of approximately 87 pages containing biology questions. This document was computerised/typed.
“We were shocked. Satish called his landlord immediately who told him the he got it from his son at around 11 pm on May 2. His son is studying medicines in Kerala. Both of us were conflicted,” Rajat said.
“Our ethics were pushing us to expose it immediately while another conscious was reminding of the possible damage to the image of Sikar’s coaching hub where we have working for so many years,” the senior teacher added.
However, they decided to approach the journalists first before any officials to keep their identities anonymous.
At around 10 pm, Rajat started calling some of his local journalist friends seeking their help. But they refused to cover the story unless there is a formal police inquiry.
Having found no other option in hand, Rajat sent Satish to the local Udhyog Nagar police station to lodge an FIR at around 12.30 am.
“There was a sub inspector. He listened to the matter but asked Satish to come back with a written complaint next morning and submit it to the station house officer,” Rajat said.
The SHO of Udhyog Nagar police station, Rajesh Kumar, confirmed the development but said that “they never returned next morning although we have been waiting for them. It was such a sensitive tip-off. How could we have lodged an FIR without any strong evidence and a detailed complaint in written?”
But Rajat and Satish started getting scared as they felt nobody is believing them. So, for the next two days, they started researching about the NEET-2024 paper leak case and AIPMT-2015 paper leak case and gathering necessary official contacts who investigated those cases.
He also called in a Rohatk-based private school — one of whose teachers leaked the AIPMT-2015 paper through a bluetooth. “I took some advocates’ contacts who are involved in the case. Later, I also called them but had no response.”
On May 6, Rajat also managed to meet one of the city coordinators of National Testing Agency (NTA) in Rajasthan anonymously to understand the process of transporting the NEET question papers in the centres across the country.
“This conversation helped me to realise a few things. I was sure that the paper was not leaked from Sikar. In Sikar, the only possible way to leak the paper was from centres once the questions reach there on the exam day. But it was already leaked and arrived in Sikar only a night before the exam,” said Rajat.
He also said, “NTA prepares two sets of questions to keep one set as a back-up. I believe that either the rest of the questions in the guess paper must have been from the back-up paper or someone from the NTA insiders already informed the culprits that which one of the two sets will be given on the exam day. I hope police digs out the entire truth about the case. Such leak ruins the future of several thousands of students.”
On May 7, Rajat and Satish decided to send an e-mail to the NTA directly without delaying the matter. They also approached a local Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officer to help them drafting the mail. “I know many of my fellow teachers, other coaching centres, even the students would hate us for making this complaint. But I think it was the right thing to do to save young meritorious students,” said Rajat.
In the e-mail, which was sent from Rajat’s ID but on Satish’s name, read, “After the conduct of the NEET-UG 2026 examination on 03 May 2026, it was found that several questions appearing in the aforesaid PDFs were exactly identical to the questions asked in the actual examination, including: same language, same sequence, same options/answer choices. I am further in possession of: copies/photos of the PDFs, screenshots/photos showing the time and receipt of the files on the mobile device, comparative material showing similarity between the leaked PDFs and the actual examination questions.”
It further added: “Considering the magnitude and national importance of the NEET examination, and the impact such acts may have on several thousands of honest students, this matter requires investigation by an independent central agency….I am willing to fully cooperate with the investigation and provide all supporting documents…I am willing to submit my mobile for forensic investigation and have full proof, considering the magnitude and importance of the NEET examination and the impact that such acts may have on the lives of the students,”
NTA officials confirmed that they received the mail at 9.30 pm on May 7. Director general Abhishek Singh told HT, “We received the whistleblower’s email on the night of May 7, which I reviewed the next morning. After examining its contents, I spoke to him and his son and assured them that the claims would be thoroughly verified and appropriate action taken. We thanked him for coming forward. Following a preliminary inquiry, we referred the complaint to central probe agencies for verification and extended full cooperation. Since our priority is to act in the interest of hardworking students, once some of the claims were found to be genuine, we cancelled the examination on May 12, 2026.”
He also added: “As part of our zero-tolerance, zero-error examination policy, we examined, probed and verified every complaint and input received before, during and after the exam. Even before the test, with the help of central government authorities, we blocked 120 Telegram channels that were fraudulently selling fake NEET-UG 2026 question papers by falsely claiming they were genuine.”
