The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed a supplementary charge sheet containing an additional name in the list of accused as well as forensic findings in the investigation into the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2026 paper leak case, people familiar with the development said.
The additional accused, Nanded resident Sheshrav Bajrang Suryawanshi alias Raj Suryawanshi, was arrested on September 2. He is allegedly a close associate of co-accused Shubham Khairnar, who played a key role in distributing exam papers to various candidates and was arrested on May 13.
The leak was only detected a week after the exam was conducted, triggering massive protests spearheaded by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) that eventually leading to the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan . On May 12, NTA announced the cancellation of the 2026 NEET test after at least 120 questions in a guess paper – a compilation made by subject experts and teachers of suggested questions, based on previous trends and patterns – were found to be the same as those in the NEET exam paper on May 3.
An officer said that Suryawanshi had called exam candidates to a location in Nanded and provided them with the question paper. “He kept their original documents like educational certificates and identity cards to ensure that they made the payment after the examination,” the officer added. A second officer said that the supplementary charge sheet also includes forensic experts’ findings.
HT had first reported last week that CBI didn’t find any evidence against any government official in the case. CBI had named 13 people, including three subject experts hired by the National Testing Agency (NTA) , middlemen and coaching centre representatives, in the first charge sheet on July 28. Both charge sheets do not name any government official.
The submission of the supplementary charge sheet before a special court in Delhi concludes the agency’s investigation in the case, these people said.
