Two days after the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 over alleged paper leaks, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday evening chaired the first high-level meeting with senior officials to discuss the upcoming re-examination.
The discussions during the meeting primarily focused on the NEET re-examination, for which fresh dates are yet to be announced.
"A high-level meeting was held late tonight at the residence of the Education Minister, where detailed discussions took place regarding the upcoming NEET examination," a source told ANI.
The meeting, held at the minister's residence, was attended by senior officials, including Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi, School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar, Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA) Abhishek Singh, CBSE Chairperson Rahul Singh and commissioners of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), among others.According to sources in the Ministry of Education, the government's "first priority" is to conduct the re-examination in a "completely safe, transparent and credible manner", even as modalities and timelines are being finalised.
While broad contours of the re-examination have been discussed, the exact dates are still being worked out and are expected to be announced in the next five to seven days, according to a senior NTA official.The meeting involved a comprehensive review of the situation following the cancellation, the official said.
This was the first such high-level review chaired by Pradhan since the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 on May 12.
The National Testing Agency had cancelled the May 3 examination following allegations of a paper leak, impacting over 22 lakh candidates. The matter is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), amid concerns over the integrity of the examination process.
Meanwhile, the Rouse Avenue court granted seven days' custody of the five accused arrested in the NEET UG Paper leak case. The CBI produced the accused Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Shubham Khairnar, and Yash Yadav before the court.
Special Judge (CBI) Ajay Gupta remanded Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Shubham Khairnar, and Yash Yadav for seven days of CBI custody.
While granting police custody, the court noted, "Allegedly, accused Dinesh Biwal, who is the brother of accused Mangilal and also the relative of accused Yash Yadav, had facilitated the circulation of NEET question paper in conspiracy with the co-accused persons."
The court said that, allegedly, there is a larger conspiracy angle present in this case, and the investigation is at its very nascent stage. The custody of the accused persons has been sought in order to unearth the entire conspiracy, as well as arrest all the active members of this organised paper leak gang and also for the recovery of all the relevant incriminating material.
The custody of these accused persons is also sought to prevent further tampering with the evidence, as allegedly, some of the accused persons have already deleted the incriminating data from their mobile phones, the court noted.
The court had directed the CBI to produce all the accused persons on May 20, 2026.
It is alleged that Mangilal Biwal contacted Shubham Khairnar for a question paper for his son Vikas Biwal. Thereafter, the larger chain was created with other Accused persons.
It is also alleged that Shubham first leaked the paper to Yash, then Yash to Mangilal, to Vikas, to Dinesh Biwal.
It is also alleged that Mangi Lal further sold the leaked paper to various candidates for Rs 12 lakh.