The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday laid hands on another accused in connection with the NEET UG 2026 paper leak case, arresting the director of a coaching institute from Maharashtra’s Latur district, officials said. 

According to officials, the arrested accused has been identified as Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, who received the leaked paper almost 10 days prior to the exam. The CBI sleuths believe he was an active member of an organised network involved in leaking the paper, as well as circulating the questions and answers among students.

Shivraj was the director of RCC institute in Latur

As learnt by the agency, Shivraj served as the director of Renukai Chemistry Classes (RCC), located in the Shivnagar area of Latur. The CBI officials claimed Shivraj had access to the leaked question paper on his cell phone as early as April 23, 2026. 

Officials probing the case said that the paper and its answer key were allegedly distributed to several students before they took the exam. They added that they have seized Shivraj’s cell phone, which has been sent for forensic analysis, while investigators continue to examine his links with other suspects arrested earlier in the widening scandal. 

With the latest arrest, the total number of arrested accused in connection with the paper leak case has reached 10. Earlier, nine people had been arrested across five different states. 

Questions which appeared in mock test raised suspicion

The controversy surrounding RCC surfaced after parents of the students enrolled there noticed striking similarities between questions asked in the institute’s mock tests and those that appeared in the actual NEET UG 2026 exam. 

The local police took cognisance of the incident, before it was taken over by the CBI. The investigators suspect that RCC may have used prior access to the question paper while conducting mock test sessions for students. 

Latur, Pune emerge as hotspots in NEET paper leak

Notably, Shivraj is the second person to have been arrested from Latur in connection with the case. Earlier, CBI had swooped down on PV Kulkarni, a retired chemistry teacher accused of leaking exam questions through covert coaching sessions organised shortly before the exam. The Central agency has also arrested one Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, a senior Botany teacher from Pune and a Pune-based beauty parlour owner Manisha Waghmare as part of the probe. 

Officials believe that the paper leak racket appears to have begun operations in the final week of April, days before the exam was conducted pan-India. The controversy first surfaced in Rajasthan on May 7. After the Union Education Ministry lodged a complaint, the CBI was handed over the case on May 12.