NEET-UG examination 2026: One suspect arrested from Nashik

After the National Testing Agency (NTA) canceled the NEET-UG 2026 exam due to the alleged paper leak, the Maharashtra police on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) arrested a suspect in Nashik district to investigate the allegations of exam paper leak.

Also read: NEET-UG 2026 highlights canceled on 12 May 2026

According to Nashik City Deputy Commissioner of Police Kiran Kumar Chavan, a request was received from the Rajasthan Police on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, regarding an accused involved in the NEET case. Acting on the request, the Crime Branch has detained the accused and will hand him over to the Rajasthan Police on arrival.

“The accused had changed his appearance in an attempt to evade arrest, which initially created difficulty for the police. However, he was eventually tracked down and arrested using technical evidence and surveillance,” Mr. Chavan said.

The accused is said to be from Nashik’s Nandgaon village and follows BAMS.

On Tuesday, May 12, 2026, the NEET-UG exams to be held in May were canceled due to the alleged paper leak. The government launched a CBI investigation. This is the second time the question paper has been leaked; the first was in 2024. The exam was not canceled because there was insufficient evidence of a “systemic” leak across the country.

The cancellation of NEET received backlash from the opposition in the state as thousands of students were affected.

NCP-SP leader Rohit Pawar said: “Maharashtra is facing serious embarrassment as the subjects of this paper leak case reach Nashik. 22 lakh students across the country have been affected due to #NEET scam, out of which 2.25 lakh are students from Maharashtra.”

He pointed out that a demand has been made to enact legislation on paper leaks in 2023 through Yuva Sangharsh Yatra. After the central government submitted the Bill, the state government also introduced the law. However, this law had many shortcomings. “I appealed to the Legislative Assembly to correct these deficiencies, but unfortunately it was not taken into account,” he said in X.

“This has been happening for years, but this time they have enough proof because the document was leaked days before the exam. A lot of money is at stake as private coaches want to show off their success rates and attract students,” said Sudha Shenoy, a Mumbai-based parent representative.

NCP-SP leader Rohini Khadse said, “Out of 281 questions in the guess paper, 131 were used in the #NEET question paper. Due to this leak of the paper, the NEET exam has been cancelled.”

Khadse said on