The alleged middleman in the 2026 NEET-UG paper leak case has approached a Delhi court, seeking directions to jail authorities to provide him with three specific texts while in judicial custody. In his formal application, Dhananjay Nivrutti Lokhande requested Shrimaan Yogi, a biographical novel spanning more than 1,000 pages on Shivaji Maharaj, alongside the Hanuman Chalisa.

A Delhi court on Tuesday officially allowed the application submitted Special Judge for the Fast Track Court Ajay Gupta issued an order stating that jail authorities must provide the religious book to the accused following the review of facts, circumstances, and submissions made on behalf of the eighth accused.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the ongoing probe into the examination breach, Lokhande played a vital role in circulating the compromised test papers. Investigators submitted that Lokhande is acquainted with co-accused Shubham Khairnar.

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The CBI investigation further revealed that Lokhande collected the examination material directly from Manisha Waghmare, a co-accused resident of Pune. After receiving the confidential question papers, Lokhande allegedly transmitted the documents further to Shubham Khairnar.

CBI Findings on NTA Office Security Flaws

The central agency's probe uncovered that three subject experts managed to remove examination questions out of the National Testing Agency office located in Delhi One individual allegedly wrote questions down on paper chits before hiding them.

Meanwhile, two other subject experts simply memorized the questions. Upon returning to their hotel rooms, they either wrote down the recalled questions or marked the relevant paragraphs inside their NCERT textbooks.

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Investigators noted that these actions were possible because the individuals were not properly frisked when exiting the confidential section. This sensitive wing is situated on the first floor of the NTA building and notably lacked a dedicated CCTV live feed monitoring control room.

Examination Schedule and Retest Details

More than 22.7 lakh aspirants appeared for the initial entrance examination conducted on May 3. Following the discovery of the security breach and subsequent allegations, the original test was cancelled

A mandatory retest for the affected candidates subsequently took place on June 21. Following the evaluation of the papers, the final examination results were officially declared on July 16.