How A Sikar Hostel Owner Helped Expose The NEET-UG 2026 Paper Leak

The massive leak of the NEET-UG 2026 question paper was allegedly uncovered after a hostel owner in Rajasthan’s coaching hub of Sikar noticed striking similarities between a circulated “guess paper” and the actual medical entrance examination held on May 3.

According to reports, the chain of events began late on May 2 when an MBBS student from Sikar, currently studying in Kerala, allegedly sent a PDF file containing the so-called “guess paper” to his father through WhatsApp. The student’s father runs a hostel for coaching aspirants in Sikar, one of India’s largest centres for NEET and competitive exam preparation.

Since the MBBS student was no longer appearing for NEET himself, he reportedly suggested that the material could help students staying at the hostel. However, by the time the PDF arrived, four girls residing at the hostel and appearing for the examination had already left for their exam centres.

Curious about the authenticity of the document, the hostel owner allegedly forwarded the PDF to a local chemistry teacher. After the examination concluded, the teacher reportedly compared the questions from the “guess paper” with the actual NEET question paper and found that 45 out of 108 chemistry questions matched exactly.

Alarmed by the similarities, the hostel owner and teacher then consulted a biology faculty member. Together, they allegedly discovered that nearly 90 out of 204 biology questions were also identical to those in the actual exam. In total, around 135 questions were said to have matched the original paper, raising immediate suspicions of a large-scale leak.

The hostel owner and the chemistry teacher reportedly approached local police in Sikar with their findings. However, according to reports, police initially declined to register a case, expressing concern that complaints filed after the examination could raise questions about the complainants’ intentions.

The matter was later escalated directly to the National Testing Agency (NTA) through email. The NTA subsequently alerted the Intelligence Bureau and asked Rajasthan Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) to investigate the allegations on May 8.

Investigators later verified the timeline and communication trail through the hostel owner’s phone records and WhatsApp chats, according to reports. The probe soon widened beyond Rajasthan and uncovered an alleged interstate network linked to the paper leak.

The investigation reportedly traced the chain from Sikar to Haryana and eventually to Nashik. Authorities allege that two brothers from Jamwaramgarh near Jaipur played a role in distributing the paper before investigators identified a first-year Ayurveda student in Haryana accused of selling the leaked material to aspirants in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.

The probe later reached Maharashtra, where investigators allegedly recovered a physical copy of the “guess paper” from a Nashik-based student identified as Shubham Khairnar.

Following the controversy and nationwide outrage, the NTA cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination and announced that the test would be reconducted on revised dates. The agency clarified that candidates would not need to register again or pay additional fees, and all existing applications would remain valid.