E-Paper
Rajasthan SOG probes NEET irregularities over ‘guess paper’ overlap
The SOG has so far questioned 12 people from Rajasthan’s Sikar, Jaipur, Kota and Jhunjhunu districts, as well as Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
The Rajasthan special operations group (SOG) has launched a probe into alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG 2026 after investigators found that at least 120 questions matched those circulated earlier in a handwritten “guess paper”, officials said.
Additional director general of SOG Vishal Bansal said the investigation began after the state police chief received inputs regarding a PDF containing hundreds of questions that had allegedly circulated among NEET aspirants through WhatsApp and other public platforms days before the examination held on May 3.
“A few days ago, an internal tip-off was received by DGP Rajeev Sharma that a PDF of a guess paper had been widely circulated among NEET students through WhatsApp and other public domains before the examination. The question bank contained 400 questions, out of which 120 questions from chemistry and biology were found common in the NEET paper comprising 200 questions,” Bansal said.
“Following the development, we have started an investigation although no FIR has been formally lodged yet. It is not yet confirmed whether the paper was leaked,” he added.
Officials said the SOG has so far questioned 12 people from Rajasthan’s Sikar, Jaipur, Kota and Jhunjhunu districts, as well as Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
“Prima facie, the PDF appears to have been circulated by a coaching centre, academic agency or counsellor from Sikar, although this is yet to be conclusively established. We have also received information that the same question bank was circulated among students in states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala,” Bansal said.
Investigators said the question bank was entirely handwritten.
“The students who went through this guess paper could have potentially scored up to 600 marks out of 720 in NEET. We are collecting data on how many students received the paper and are trying to trace the persons who prepared and circulated it,” the ADG said.
The SOG is also probing whether any monetary transactions were linked to the circulation of the question bank.
“We are still not certain whether this is merely a coincidence or an actual paper leak. It is a very unusual case. Normally, paper leak gangs do not circulate question papers through public platforms. They usually collect money from students and their associates to meet candidates personally and make them memorise answers using their own devices. This case does not follow that pattern. We first need to understand how anyone benefited if the paper was indeed leaked,” Bansal said.
He added that SOG teams were also examining whether any of Rajasthan’s known paper leak syndicates were involved in the matter.
“Earlier, coaching centres, including some from Sikar, have been found involved in recruitment examination irregularities. Necessary action will be taken if any of them are found involved in this case as well,” he said.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the examination in pen-and-paper mode on May 3, said in a post on X that the matter was under investigation and facts would emerge through due process.
“NTA will not pre-judge the inquiry, nor characterise its likely outcome. Whatever the agencies determine — including findings that may require further action — will be examined transparently and disclosed in keeping with established procedure. Any necessary steps will be taken in consultation with the Ministry of Education at the appropriate stage,” the agency said in its May 10 post.
The NTA also issued a separate statement asserting that the examination was conducted under “full security protocol”.
“The National Testing Agency is aware of reports concerning action initiated by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group in connection with alleged irregularities around NEET (UG) 2026. The examination on 3 May 2026 was conducted as scheduled and under a full security protocol,” the statement said.
It added that question papers were transported in GPS-tracked vehicles carrying unique watermark identifiers, while examination centres were monitored through AI-assisted CCTV systems from a central control room. Biometric verification of candidates and 5G jammers were also used during the examination process.
“The examination process proceeded as planned across all centres on the day,” the agency said.
According to NTA, it became aware of the allegations only on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination.
“Inputs concerning alleged malpractice activity around the examination were escalated by NTA to central agencies on the morning of 8 May 2026 for independent verification and necessary action,” it said.
Meanwhile, NTA’s city coordinator in Sikar, Narsi Ram, said 102 examination centres had been set up in the district this year and around 30,000 students appeared for the examination.
“The examination was conducted peacefully while maintaining all protocols. No complaint was received during the examination. NTA was not aware of this guess paper before the examination. However, after the examination, some students reportedly approached the state police with complaints regarding the question bank. They also claimed it had been circulated by a coaching centre in Sikar on the night before the examination,” he said.
Sikar, regarded as Rajasthan’s second-largest coaching hub after Kota, attracts lakhs of students every year preparing for engineering and medical entrance examinations such as JEE and NEET.
In 2023, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the office of an accountant linked to a prominent coaching institute in Sikar in connection with the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET)-2021 paper leak case. SOG officials had then said the institute remained under scrutiny in that investigation.
The district also drew national attention in 2024 after data released by the NTA following a Supreme Court order amid allegations of irregularities in NEET-UG showed Sikar had the highest number of students securing top percentiles from any city in India.
According to the centre-wise data, 1,555 candidates from examination centres in Sikar secured positions in the top percentiles, the highest for any city in the country.
The data also showed that of the 50 NEET-UG centres recording the highest percentage of candidates scoring above 650 marks, 37 were located in Rajasthan’s Sikar district alone.
