Will Neet question papers get military-level protection?

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Neet) UG 2026 paper leak scandal is a severe breach of trust and integrity. Over 22 lakh aspirants who appeared for the exam were left shattered by what they described as the “shoddy system."

The Neet UG re-examination is officially scheduled for June 21, 2026, after being cancelled on May 12, following the receipt of information about alleged malpractices on May 7.

The exam was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 3 across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres for aspirants seeking admission to undergraduate medical courses.

The June 21 Neet re-exam is likely to witness the monitoring of the defence forces as the Centre mulls Indian Air Force (IAF) support to ensure leak-free retest.

More from Explainers

From Nashik to Dehradun and beyond, the multi-state network behind Neet paper leak

Neet exam cancelled: How ‘guess paper’ trail led NTA to order re-examination

We take a look.

Military-grade protection for Neet papers?

The Narendra Modi government is considering the possibility of using the IAF for the transportation of Neet-UG papers to ensure the June 21 retest is conducted without any leaks and lapses.

The proposal seeks to ensure the safe transport and handling of examination papers while preventing a repeat of the irregularities that forced the earlier exams to be cancelled.

This came after a high-level meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, attended by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia.

National Testing Agency (Nta) Director General Abhishek Singh and senior officials from the Education Ministry, among others, were also part of the meeting.

The meeting emphasised the entire exam process, from setting and printing of the Neet question papers to transportation and security arrangements.

News agency PTI reported, citing sources, “The ministers and senior officials discussed whether IAF aircraft could be used for transportation of the Neet-UG test papers."

"However, as of now, no final decision has been taken, and the option will be placed before Prime Minister Narendra Modi for final view," they added.

The PM will reportedly personally monitor the preparations for the June 21 reexamination. Modi is being informed of every single detail related to the examination process.

"No one will be spared"

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has vowed a massive crackdown over Neet-UG fiasco.

While speaking to India Today on Thursday (May 28), Pradhan said no one involved in exam irregularities or paper leaks would be spared. He called the controversy "unfortunate" and promised strict action after a thorough probe.

Pradhan stressed extensive security arrangements for the June 21 reset; however, he did not explicitly mention the use of military-level protection for exam question papers.

He said the government was following a “whole of government” approach, bringing together both the Centre and state governments to secure every stage of the examination process — from the preparation of question papers to the safe return of papers after the exam.

The minister also emphasised that students' mental stress remains the government's key concern.

He asserted fees paid for the cancelled examination would be refunded and that no fee would be charged for the reset. According to him, students were given the option to change their exam centres, and around 2.5 to 3 lakh students had chosen their preferred centres, which were accommodated.

How the Neet paper got leaked

Rajasthan’s Sikar was at the centre of the Neet paper leak scandal.

A probe by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group (SOG) pointed to a complex trail leading to Nashik, where the question papers were allegedly printed. However, a separate investigation by the Nashik Police has presented a different account.

The Nashik Police sources noted that a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) student obtained the paper through the Telegram app from another Pune-based student.

The student, identified as Shubham Khairnar, allegedly bought the paper for Rs 10 lakh and then sold it to a buyer in Haryana for Rs 15 lakh.

Officials probing the matter initially believed the Neet-UG paper might have been leaked directly from Nashik’s printing press, as per Rajasthan police sources, according to reports.

According to sources, a person connected to the printing press may have passed the paper into a “chain network,” from which it reached a doctor in Gurugram, Haryana.

The network only widened…

Khatik, another man from Jaipur’s Jamwa Ramgarh, then reportedly purchased the paper from the doctor.

From Jamwa Ramgarh, the question paper was allegedly passed on to Rakesh Kumar Mandawaria in Sikar, Rajasthan, who reportedly works as an MBBS counselling agent outside the major coaching institutes there.

The Neet paper was distributed from a one-to-one network across the nation, reaching several coaching centres in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Kerala and Uttarakhand.

According to investigators, question papers were circulating as a “guess paper,” which is now the subject of a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Guess papers are generally practice questions prepared by tutors based on trends from previous years.

The probe suggested that the papers had been circulating for nearly 15 days before the May 3 exam and were sold to medical aspirants for amounts ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 28 lakh.

In fact, a student from Nagaur who reached Sikar four days ahead of the May 3 exam allegedly paid Rs 28 lakh to obtain the paper.

Who were the masterminds

On May 12, the CBI took custody of a 30-year-old Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) student from Maharashtra’s Nashik in connection with the leak case. The arrested man has been identified as Shubham Khairnar.

He reportedly bought the “guess paper” for Rs 10 lakh from another Pune-based suspect, and then sold it further for Rs 15 lakh to a Haryana-based buyer, police sources stated.

Police in Rajgir, Bihar, also made a crucial catch on the day of the exam itself. Rajgir DSP Sunil Kumar Singh asserted that after checking vehicles on May 3, cops came across two cars.

Singh said the driver, who claimed to be an MBBS student, had a stack of cash in his car. Upon checking their mobile phones, we found multiple admit cards. Three people were arrested.

On May 7, from Dehradun, Rajastan Special Operations Group (SOG) nabbed five people, including Rakesh Kumar, a Sikar-based career counsellor, one of the alleged masterminds.

Rakesh, one of the masterminds, allegedly obtained a question bank containing 410 questions from an examinee in Kerala, of which 150 reportedly matched the actual Neet paper held on May 3.

He is said to have initially sold the paper for Rs 5 lakh, but later reduced the price to Rs 30,000 per aspirant as the exam date neared.

After taking over the Neet-UG paper leak probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case on a written complaint by the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education.

The probe agency then formed special teams to probe the case, carried out searches across the nation and made prompt arrests.

13 accused have been arrested in the case so far from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nashik, Pune, Latur, and Ahilyanagar.

With inputs from agencies