NEET paper leak: Delhi court extends kingpin Kulkarni’s police custody by 2 days

A Delhi court extended the police custody of the alleged NEET paper leak kingpin, Prahlad Vithalrao Kulkarni, by two days and remanded another accused to 14-day judicial custody.

A Delhi court on Monday extended the police custody of the alleged kingpin in the NEET paper leak case, Prahlad Vithalrao Kulkarni, by two days and remanded another accused, Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, to 14-day judicial custody.

Special CBI judge Ajay Gupta extended their custody after they were produced before the court at the end of their 10-day remand granted by the court on May 16.

According to the CBI, Kulkarni, a chemistry lecturer in Pune, was involved in the NEET process on behalf of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and had access to the question papers.

The agency had said earlier that during the last week of April, Kulkarni had mobilised students, with the help of Waghmare, and conducted special coaching classes for them at his residence in Pune.

The development came after a Pune-based physics lecturer, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, was sent to six-day CBI custody earlier in the day.

Havaldar was the 11th arrestee in the case.

The other accused include Shubham Khairnar, the first arrestee from Nashik; Mangilal Khatik, Vikas and Dinesh Biwal, all three arrested from Jaipur; Yash Yadav, arrested from Gurugram; and Dhananjay Lokhande, arrested from Ahilyanagar in Maharashtra.

On May 16, the CBI arrested biology lecturer Manisha Mandhare, who was part of the NTA paper-setting committee. She was sent to 14-day CBI custody the next day.

Another accused, Shivraj Raghunath, founder of the Renukai Career Centre (RCC), was arrested in Latur and sent to nine-day CBI custody on May 18.

On May 12, the NTA cancelled the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of paper leak. A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21.