Arrested headmistress recalled physics questions from NEET paper from memory & provided them to student: CBI

PUNE: City-based school headmistress Manisha Havaldar allegedly reconstructed NEET physics questions from memory and shared them with a student, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed a city court on Friday night, while seeking her transit remand, hours after her arrest in the NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak case.She was subsequently taken to Delhi for further questioning as part of the ongoing investigation.CBI told the court that Havaldar allegedly admitted that in April, she reconstructed NEET physics questions from memory and shared them with a student, who has since been identified. ACI said the headmistress claimed that she acted on the instructions of an NTA chemistry expert. Later, at the request of co-accused Manisha Mandhare, the same set of questions was circulated through a messaging application. Havaldar told investigators that she used both her own cellphone and her husband’s device to transmit the material.CBI further said Havaldar confessed to preparing handwritten question sets and distributing them to students both digitally and through printed copies.The agency also conducted a search at her residence in Sadashiv Peth on Friday. During the raid, CBI seized multiple NEET-UG question papers, including Marathi-English “Master Set” papers, an “M-2” coded paper and Hindi-English versions. The agency also recovered attendance certificates, identity card copies issued by the NTA and cash.In its remand report, CBI stated that Havaldar admitted to printing the leaked material using an official computer at Sheth Hiralal Saraf School. She also allegedly confessed to deleting conversations with Mandhare and destroying evidence by burning handwritten notes containing the reconstructed physics questions.