The CBI on Friday arrested a Pune-based professor alleged to be the kingpin behind the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, even as the government announced that the medical entrance examination would be re-conducted on June 21 after cancelling the earlier test over the controversy. Fresh admit cards will be issued by June 14 and no fee will be charged from candidates appearing in the retest.The CBI said it had arrested Prof PV Kulkarni, a native of Latur and a chemistry domain expert, who had been part of the panel setting NEET question papers for several years. Kulkarni was arrested from his residence in Pune, officials said, adding that he allegedly misused his access to question papers and conducted special coaching classes at his residence.“During the last week of April 2026, he had mobilised students with the help of another accused, Manisha Waghmare, who was arrested by the CBI on May 14,” an official familiar with the investigation said.The official claimed Kulkarni dictated questions, answer options and correct answers during these sessions. Students reportedly wrote the dictated questions by hand in notebooks and the material later “exactly matched” the actual NEET-UG 2026 question paper held on May 3.Meanwhile, addressing a press conference amid nationwide anger among students and parents, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government decided to cancel the examination after it became clear that questions had circulated “under the guise of guess papers” across multiple states.“We did not want any deserving student’s seat to be snatched away because of a mafia conspiracy,” Pradhan said, repeatedly describing paper leak networks as a “social evil” and warning that “no one will be spared”, whether inside or outside the National Testing Agency (NTA).The minister said the matter was immediately handed over to the CBI once the government became convinced that the breach was genuine. He also confirmed that candidates who appeared in the cancelled examination would receive fee refunds, while the upcoming retest would be conducted free of cost.However, while the government attempted to reassure students, the minister’s remarks also raised fresh questions about the robustness of India’s examination security architecture.Pradhan admitted that the breach occurred despite implementation of “almost 70 per cent” of the recommendations made by the Radhakrishnan Committee constituted after the 2024 NEET controversy.He said more than 120 suspicious Telegram channels had already been blocked before the examination, AI-based monitoring systems were deployed and district administrations, collectors and police officers across states were mobilised to supervise over 5,400 centres.“Zero error is our responsibility,” the minister said, while also acknowledging that cybercrime and evolving digital methods had become a growing challenge for examination agencies. The controversy has intensified scrutiny over why India’s examination system appears increasingly strict at examination centres while remaining vulnerable earlier in the administrative chain.On examination day, students underwent biometric verification, frisking and multiple layers of physical screening at centres. However, investigators now suspect the alleged leak network functioned through encrypted digital platforms, insider access and circulation of papers disguised as “guess papers” before candidates even entered examination halls.The controversy has also revived questions over why NEET continued in an OMR-based offline format despite repeated leak allegations in recent years, even as the NTA already conducts computer-based examinations such as JEE Main, CUET and UGC-NET.Pradhan announced that from next year, NEET would shift to a computer-based testing format, saying the latest incident showed the need for deeper reforms within the NTA. At the same time, he maintained that the scale of NEET, which now sees participation from nearly 25 lakh candidates, remained one of the biggest operational challenges.The minister avoided directly responding to Opposition attacks, insisting the issue should not be politicised because it involved the future of millions of students. He appealed to candidates not to believe rumours circulating on social media and said the government, state administrations and investigative agencies were committed to ensuring that such incidents do not recur.