A Delhi court on Jattvibeday remanded Manisha Mandhare, a Pune-based botany professor and National Testing Agency (NTA) panellist, to 14 days of CBI custody in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case.Mandhare allegedly conspired with other persons, including Manisha Waghmare and PV Kulkarni, to leak questions and examination content to students for substantial monetary gain.The CBI had sought 14 days’ remand of Mandhare to unearth the larger conspiracy and trace the source of the leaked NEET-UG 2026 question paper. She is scheduled to be produced before the court on May 30.The agency argued in court that the accused allegedly provided examination-related questions and content to selected students in exchange for large sums of money.The agency’s probe has pointed towards a phased operation that allegedly began with access to confidential question pools linked to the paper-setting and moderation process before reaching candidates days ahead of the May 3 examination.At the centre of the investigation is Mandhare, who, according to the agency, was associated with the examination process as a subject expert and allegedly had access to confidential botany and zoology question paper sets. The CBI probe has also linked retired chemistry professor PV Kulkarni to the chemistry paper-setting process.Investigators suspect that portions of the paper and answer keys were extracted from within the examination ecosystem and circulated through a network of accused persons.The CBI told the court that Mandhare worked with Kulkarni and Pune-based accused Manisha Waghmare, her neighbour, and allegedly shared the paper with another accused, Shubham Khairnar.According to the agency, Mandhare allegedly conducted special coaching sessions for select students at her Pune residence in April, where botany and zoology questions were dictated and marked in notebooks instead of being openly circulated.The CBI has further alleged that another arrested accused, Dhananjay Lokhande, acted as an intermediary in moving examination-related material beyond Pune.Investigators suspect the network later expanded through Khairnar and accused Yash Yadav, who allegedly circulated question papers in PDF format through Telegram on April 29.The alleged leak later spread to Rajasthan after Mangilal Biwal allegedly sought leaked papers for his son through the network for Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh.Following the controversy, the NEET-UG examination was cancelled and a re-examination has now been scheduled for June 21, while the CBI continues analysis of devices, financial transactions and communication records.