The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday informed a Delhi court that Manisha Sanjay Waghmare, an accused in the NEET paper leak case, circulated question papers to students for monetary consideration.The agency made the submissions before Special Judge Ajay Gupta, who was hearing Waghmare’s bail plea.The judge reserved the order on the plea for June 9.After the CBI opposed the bail application, the judge asked the prosecutor appearing for the agency whether she allegedly provided the leaked question papers to students in lieu of money.”She gave students questions from physics, chemistry, and biology papers … We have statements from students that they paid money in exchange for the leaked papers … Waghmare circulated the question papers,” the prosecutor said.The accused’s counsel, however, sought bail, saying his 47-year-old client was a certified education counsellor who did not indulge in any illegal activity.The lawyer contended that no cash was recovered from her premises, neither was anything incriminating found stored in her two seized mobile phones, and that she suffered from medical ailments, such as vertigo.Waghmare was arrested on May 14 and is in judicial custody.According to the agency, Waghmare, who runs a beauty parlour in Pune, collected the questions from alleged kingpin P V Kulkarni and gave them to another accused, Dhananjay Lokhande, who was arrested from Ahilyanagar, and also to other accused persons.The CBI alleged that kingpin Kulkarni ran special coaching classes for students at his house in Pune and mobilised students with Waghmare’s help.Waghmare also destroyed the papers after the exam was over on May 3, the agency claimed. The CBI has arrested 13 people in the case, all of whom are in judicial custody.On Monday, the court sent three accused in the case — a physics lecturer empanelled by the National Testing Agency (NTA) as translator, a Latur-based paediatrician, and a physics tutor — to 14 days’ judicial custody.On May 12, the NTA cancelled the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of a paper leak.A re-exam has been scheduled for June 21.


