“We knew he was working for NTA and would frequently travel to Delhi, but we never imagined something like this. He was very quiet and mostly kept to himself,” said a neighbour of retired chemistry professor P V Kulkarni outside his bungalow near Shivaji Chowk in Latur.
That bungalow, where students preparing for NEET and CET rented rooms and attended guidance sessions, is now at the centre of a CBI investigation into the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak. In the locality, neighbours and former associates say the allegations against Kulkarni have come as a shock, describing him as a low-profile academic figure who was known mainly among students preparing for medical entrance examinations.
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The profile that has emerged is of a man whose position within Maharashtra’s tightly networked NEET coaching ecosystem — built over nearly three decades of teaching, mentoring and confidential examination-related work — may have been precisely what made him valuable to the alleged racket.
Kulkarni taught chemistry at Dayanand College in Latur for nearly 28 years before retiring around four years ago. After retirement, he continued mentoring students from Latur and Pune, where his family largely stayed. Around 15 to 16 students preparing for NEET and CET stayed on the upper floors of his bungalow near Shivaji Chowk, locals said, while others regularly visited for guidance sessions.
Sources said Kulkarni continued to be associated with confidential examination-related work even after retirement, serving as a Subject Matter Expert for the National Testing Agency (NTA), a role that involves setting questions for the NEET examination. Investigators allege that he exploited this access.
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“He was not very famous in Latur’s education circle despite being a professor. We never thought he would get embroiled in such an issue,” said Sachin Bangad, a NEET counsellor and former student of Kulkarni who also consulted him during his children’s admissions.
Investigators are examining notebooks allegedly recovered from students who attended a private guidance session conducted by Kulkarni shortly before the NEET examination. According to the probe, questions and answers written during the session later matched portions of the actual NEET paper. Investigators suspect Kulkarni dictated or wrote several questions and answers during the session, which students copied into notebooks later seized by the CBI.
The CBI has alleged in court that Kulkarni abused his access to the confidential paper-setting process to leak chemistry-related questions to Manisha Waghmare. The agency has alleged that he passed on questions through Pune-based accused Manisha Waghmare, who allegedly acted as a link between candidates and members of the network. Another accused, Manisha Mandhare, a professor of Botany and Zoology in Pune’s modern college of Commerce and Science is also alleged to have known Kulkarni and others connected to the case.
Investigators suspect the alleged racket handled different subjects separately to avoid suspicion, with Kulkarni allegedly handling chemistry while Nashik-based accused Shubham Khairnar, who ran a consultancy offering guidance for admission to medical programmes, allegedly handled biology through another network. The CBI has told the court that Kulkarni’s custody is required to identify locations where questions were allegedly shown to candidates and to trace the chain through which the paper moved.
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Originally from Beed district, Kulkarni later settled in Latur because of his teaching career. His father worked as a Zilla Parishad teacher. Locals in Beed said Kulkarni continued visiting the district regularly even after moving to Latur.
Because the family also maintained a residence in Pune, Kulkarni frequently travelled between the two cities, a pattern neighbours said they had noticed but never questioned.
“We were not aware that he was a paper setter for NTA because such appointments are confidential and not supposed to be disclosed for security and secrecy reasons. But yes, we do not support what has happened and demand strict action if he has really helped get the paper,” said Dayanand College principal Dr Siddhesh Bellale.
The case has unsettled Latur’s coaching industry, one of Maharashtra’s largest centres for NEET and engineering entrance preparation, where retired professors, private classes and mentoring networks often overlap. The CBI is now examining financial transactions, phone records and the movement of candidates across cities to determine the scale of the alleged racket and whether more people connected to the examination system were involved.