NEET-UG 2026 to be re-held on 21 June

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced that NEET-UG 2026 will be re-conducted on 21 June after the government cancelled the medical entrance examination over allegations of a large-scale paper leak.

The examination was originally held on 3 May but was scrapped earlier this week following concerns over irregularities in the conduct of the test.

A senior official said the fresh examination date had been approved by the Government of India after a high-level review meeting chaired by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday evening.

The decision came as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) intensified its probe into the alleged leak of NEET-UG question papers.

The agency has sought seven days’ police custody of four men arrested in Jaipur in connection with the case, telling a Delhi court that the examination had been compromised through the online circulation of question papers before the test.

In a remand application submitted before Special Judge Ajay Gupta, the CBI alleged that the accused — Yash Yadav, Mangilal Khatik alias Mangilal Biwal, Vikash Biwal and Dinesh Biwal — were involved in distributing leaked question papers in PDF format via WhatsApp and Telegram.

According to the agency, the FIR was registered on 12 May following a complaint by Varun Bhardwaj, Director of the Department of Higher Education’s NTA division.

The CBI said a preliminary inquiry by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group confirmed that some of the leaked questions matched those used in the examination, prompting the government to cancel the test.

Investigators alleged that in April this year, a man identified as Shubham from Nasik informed Yash Yadav that leaked NEET-UG papers could be arranged for Rs 10-12 lakh.

The agency claimed that on 29 April, question papers for Physics, Chemistry and Biology were shared in PDF format through Telegram before the examination.
According to the probe agency, Mangilal Biwal allegedly obtained the papers from Yadav as part of a Rs 10 lakh arrangement and later distributed printed copies among aspirants, including his son and relatives.

The CBI further alleged that Vikash Biwal helped identify candidates and shared their details through WhatsApp and Instagram to facilitate circulation of the leaked papers.

Investigators told the court that chats, digital documents and other incriminating material had been recovered from the mobile phones of the accused. Some deleted data would require forensic analysis, the agency said.

Seeking custodial interrogation, the CBI argued that further questioning was necessary to trace the source of the leak, uncover financial and digital trails, identify additional accused persons and examine the possible involvement of NTA officials.

The agency also said police custody was required to prevent further offences involving examination paper leaks and to dismantle the wider network allegedly linked to the case.

With PTI inputs