NEET-UG 2024 Paper Leak: CBI Clears Sanjeev Mukhiya

Last Updated: July 28, 2026

Disclaimer: This article is based on CBI and Supreme Court proceedings as reported by ANI, LiveLaw, Supreme Court Observer, The Federal, Business Standard, The Tribune, Deccan Chronicle, NewsX and India.com. This case is active and politically contested — verify the latest developments on official CBI or court channels before drawing conclusions.

The CBI has closed its NEET-UG 2024 investigation without naming Sanjeev Kumar, alias Sanjeev Mukhiya — the man Bihar Police called the alleged “kingpin” of the paper leak — in its chargesheet. The agency says it found no evidence tying him to the theft or distribution of the leaked paper. This is not a full clearance: he remains in custody over a much larger network of exam-leak cases spanning five states, and the NEET-UG clean chit has triggered political allegations of a cover-up.

How Sanjeev Mukhiya’s Name Entered the NEET-UG 2024 Case

On May 5, 2024, the NEET-UG question paper was stolen from the control room of OASIS School in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, hours before the exam. According to the CBI’s own account, Principal Ehsanul Haque — also the NTA’s city coordinator for the exam centre — and Vice Principal Imtiaz Alam, the centre superintendent, allegedly gave an outside solver network access to the room. Solvers reportedly linked to AIIMS Patna, RIMS Ranchi and a medical college in Bharatpur solved the paper on exam morning, and the answers were circulated to students who had paid for them.

Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU), running a parallel probe into exam malpractice across the state, named Sanjeev Mukhiya — a technical assistant at Noorsarai Horticulture College in Nalanda, Bihar — as the alleged mastermind linking this network to the NEET-UG leak. He went absconding after applying for leave once the investigation opened, and was arrested by the EOU from a flat in Danapur, Patna, roughly a year later.

The Wider Mukhiya Network: Not Just NEET

NEET-UG 2024 is one case among several the EOU has tied to the same gang. Investigators say the network operated across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, and has been linked to paper leaks in the Bihar Public Service Commission’s Teacher Recruitment Exam (BPSC TRE-3, held March 15, 2024), the Bihar constable recruitment exam, the Haryana veterinary doctor recruitment exam, a Haryana English teachers’ recruitment exam, and recruitment exams in Uttar Pradesh. In the BPSC TRE-3 case specifically, the gang is accused of charging roughly ₹1 lakh per candidate for leaked papers.

Across all of these linked investigations combined, the EOU has arrested 290 people to date, with at least 10 more suspects tied to the network still at large. This wider caseload is why Sanjeev Mukhiya remains in judicial custody even after the NEET-UG-specific clean chit — the CBI’s finding covers only the NEET-UG 2024 paper, not the rest of the network’s alleged activity.

Timeline: NEET-UG 2024 Paper Leak Case

Date	Development
March 15, 2024	BPSC TRE-3 teacher recruitment exam leak, later linked by EOU to the same network
May 5, 2024	NEET-UG question paper stolen from OASIS School control room, Hazaribagh
June 18, 2024	Supreme Court issues notice to NTA and the Centre on NEET-UG 2024 pleas
June 26-28, 2024	CBI team reaches Hazaribagh, arrests Principal Ehsanul Haque and VP Imtiaz Alam
July 8, 2024	Supreme Court calls the paper leak “undeniable” and orders NTA to disclose exam details by July 10-11
July 12, 2024	Four accused, including Haque and Alam, sent to Patna’s Beur jail after CBI remand
August 1, 2024	CBI files first chargesheet, naming 13 accused
September 20, 2024	CBI files second chargesheet naming Haque, Alam and four others
~April 2025	Bihar EOU arrests Sanjeev Mukhiya from Danapur, Patna
July 2026	CBI states no evidence found against Mukhiya specifically in the NEET-UG 2024 case; no chargesheet filed against him in this case

Across the CBI’s NEET-UG-specific investigation, 36 people have been arrested. Across the EOU’s wider network of linked exam-leak cases, that figure rises to 290.

What the Supreme Court Found

Separately from the CBI’s criminal investigation, the Supreme Court heard more than 40 petitions seeking cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 or action against the NTA — a case affecting an estimated 23 lakh MBBS and BDS aspirants nationally. The Court stated the occurrence of a paper leak “could not be denied,” and ordered the NTA to disclose the nature and location of the leak and the time gap before the exam. The NTA, for its part, told the Court no paper had gone missing and no locks were broken at exam centres — a position at odds with the CBI’s own findings at Hazaribagh.

The Court held that a full re-test would only be necessary if tainted candidates couldn’t be identified and separated, or if the leak proved widespread. In the event, the NTA withdrew and cancelled compensatory marks awarded to 1,563 candidates for lost exam time, and gave them the choice of a re-test on June 23, 2024, or accepting their un-normalised actual score for counselling.

What the CBI Actually Said About Mukhiya

The CBI’s position, as reported, is narrow and specific: it says “prima facie suspicion” had emerged against Sanjeev Kumar alias Sanjeev Mukhiya because he was separately implicated in the other paper-theft cases described above — but that its NEET-UG 2024 investigation did not turn up evidence establishing his involvement in this particular paper’s theft or distribution. Because no chargesheet was filed against him within the statutory time limit in the NEET-UG case, he became eligible for default bail in that case.

This is a legal outcome specific to one case, not a finding that clears him of the BPSC, Bihar constable, or Haryana cases the EOU is pursuing against him — he remains in judicial custody in connection with those.

The Political Controversy

Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal publicly alleged that the government is shielding Mukhiya, claiming the CBI deliberately let the chargesheet deadline lapse to secure him default bail in the NEET-UG case. The clean chit came to renewed public attention amid separate, ongoing 2026 student protests over irregularities in NEET-UG 2026 — a different exam cycle — which put fresh scrutiny on how the 2024 leak case was handled. Other reporting has pushed back on the “deliberate cover-up” framing, noting the CBI’s explanation rests on an evidentiary standard specific to one exam paper, not a political decision. Both sides of this remain publicly contested — treat either characterization as an allegation, not a settled fact, until a court or further investigation says otherwise.

What This Means If You’re a NEET Aspirant

The clean chit applies to one individual in one case, within a network where 290 people have been arrested overall. It does not reopen or invalidate NEET-UG 2024 results, and it has no bearing on NEET-UG 2026 admissions or counselling timelines. If you’re tracking this story because of trust concerns around exam security, the relevant fact for your own admission process is that the core paper-leak prosecution — against the school principal, vice principal, and dozens of others — is proceeding separately in court and is unaffected by this specific development. Track your own progress through our live guides: NEET-UG 2026 result, counselling process and category-wise cutoff — none of them are affected by this case.

Final Verdict

Sanjeev Mukhiya has not been chargesheeted by the CBI in the NEET-UG 2024 case, for lack of evidence in that specific investigation, and has secured bail in it as a result. He is not a free man: he remains in custody over a five-state network of exam-leak cases — BPSC TRE-3, Bihar constable recruitment, and Haryana recruitment exams among them — with 290 total arrests and at least 10 suspects still at large. The clean chit has become a live political flashpoint, with the CBI’s own stated reasoning on one side and opposition allegations of a cover-up on the other. Both are on the public record; neither is a final legal determination.

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