'Whether Inside Or Outside Org, CBI Will Identify, Punish Guilty': NTA DG Abhishek Singh On NEET-UG Leak Probe

New Delhi: National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General Abhishek Singh on Tuesday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will carry out a fair and comprehensive probe into the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak allegations, identifying all those involved, irrespective of whether they are inside or outside the agency.

Speaking to ANI over a Zoom call, Singh addressed concerns over possible internal involvement in the alleged leak and said strict action will be taken against anyone found guilty.

"Whether it is somebody from inside or somebody from outside, CBI will do a complete fair inquiry and will identify anyone, whoever it may be - whether inside or outside, that doesn't matter. Whosoever is guilty, whosoever has caused us to come to this situation will be identified, punished and sent to jail," he said.

Reiterating the agency's stance on the cancellation of the examination, the NTA DG said the decision was taken in the interest of students after it became clear that the integrity of the exam had been compromised.

"It is unfortunate, it is not fair for the students or parents, for all the stakeholders, that we were unable to ensure that nothing went wrong. We are investigating, we have asked CBI to inquire into it," Singh said.

On the new dates for the NEET-UG 2026 re-exam in the wake of the paper leak allegations, NTA DG Abhishek Singh said the agency is working on finalising the schedule and will announce it within a few days.

He said the decision is being taken to ensure that the examination process does not affect academic calendars and the future of medical aspirants. "We are working toward that. Within a few days, we will be announcing the new dates in order to ensure that the examination process doesn't impact the academic calendars and the academic future of medical students. All of it will be taken into account when we announce the new dates," he said.

"We will ensure that when we conduct the re-examination in a few weeks from now, it will be conducted with full integrity without any criminal, without any cheating, without trying to take away the rights of honest students," he added.

Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, four teams of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reached the Crime Branch Unit-2 office in Nashik to take custody of accused Shubham Khairnar, who was earlier arrested by Nashik Police in connection with the alleged paper leak case.

The case is being probed following allegations raised by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG), which is investigating claims that a "guess paper" containing around 410 questions was circulated before the examination. Officials suspect that nearly 120 questions from this document matched the Chemistry section of the NEET-UG paper.

Rajasthan ADG Police Vishal Bansal had earlier said the document may have been in circulation weeks before the exam.

Following inputs from central agencies, the Centre cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination conducted on May 3, citing concerns over the integrity of the process, and referred the matter to the CBI for a detailed probe.

The agency has registered an FIR under sections of criminal conspiracy, cheating, corruption, and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. Special teams have been deployed across locations for investigation.

The NEET-UG examination, the single entrance test for MBBS, BDS and allied medical courses, was conducted across more than 5,400 centres in India and abroad, with around 22.79 lakh candidates appearing.

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and auto-generated from an agency feed.)