The Breaking Story · 2026

NEET-UG 2026

The leak that ended a ministry. Every event below is sourced to press and parliamentary reporting; figures verified across ANI, Moneycontrol, The Hindu, India Today, LiveLaw.

Timeline

May 3

NEET-UG 2026 held — 22 lakh+ candidates, 4,750 centres

May 7

Whistleblower Shashikant Suthar (Sikar chemistry tutor) alerts NTA; circulating PDF matched 111+ questions

May 12

Exam cancelled; CBI takes over the probe

May–Jun

Probe widens; arrests of NTA panelist P.V. Kulkarni, coaching middlemen and the CBI chargesheet module

Jun 21

Retest held nationwide

Jul 16

Retest results declared

Jun

CBSE on-screen marking (OSM) software errors compound student anger, uniting school-level and competitive-level protests

Jul 20

'Chalo Sansad' march; tear gas, lathi-charge, 100+ injured

Jul 22

Delhi HC hears petitions; video evidence of police action reviewed

Jul 24

Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill approved by Cabinet; passed Lok Sabha (Jul 29) and Rajya Sabha (Jul 30); 47 NTA officials terminated

Jul 25

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns; President accepts under Art 75(2); Pralhad Joshi named successor

Jul 26

Nationwide candlelight marches; compensation pledged to families of NEET suicides

Key Figures

P.V. Kulkarni
NTA Chemistry panelist, alleged upstream source — arrested, CBI custody
Shashikant Suthar
Sikar chemistry tutor, the whistleblower
Mangilal, Vikash & Dinesh Biwal
Sikar distribution module, arrested
Abhijeet Dipke
Cockroach Janta Party founder, led the protests
Sonam Wangchuk
Joined in solidarity; 26-day hunger strike
Ritik Mishra, 21
Lakhimpur Kheri, UP — died by suicide after the cancellation
Siddharth Hegde, 17
South Goa — died after the retest announcement

Reform Tracker

Done
  • ·Minister resigned (Jul 25)
  • ·Amendment Bill approved (Jul 24)
  • ·47 NTA officials terminated
  • ·CBI probe
  • ·NEET CBT confirmed for 2027
In Progress
  • ·Special courts for the Act
  • ·3-tier biometric verification
Not Adopted
  • ·Scrap NTA (denied — restructured under K. Radhakrishnan panel)
  • ·Blockchain exams (not adopted — sidelined for CBT + AI monitoring)
  • ·Permanent CBI oversight (denied — Special Task Force instead)
  • ·₹1 crore compensation (pending)
  • ·Withdraw FIRs (pending)