CBI names Nanded resident in new NEET leak charge sheet

The agency has added Nanded resident Sheshrav Bajrang Suryawanshi as an accused and included forensic findings in its final investigation report.

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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 submission of the supplementary charge sheet before a special court in Delhi concludes the agency’s investigation in the case, these people said.

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.

HT had first reported last week that CBI didn’t find any evidence against any government official in the case.

Also read: No govt, NTA official named as CBI files supplementary chargesheet over NEET paper leak

Nanded man named as additional accused

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.

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. 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.

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.

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  Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.Read More