New Delhi, 08 July (H.S.): A Delhi court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of two accused in the NEET paper leak case, PV Kulkarni and Shivraj Motegaonkar, until July 11.

The order was passed by the Rouse Avenue Court after the expiry of their earlier period of judicial custody. Both accused were produced before the court, which subsequently ordered that they remain in judicial custody until the next date of hearing.

The case stems from an FIR registered on May 12 following a complaint filed by a government official. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The original NEET examination, conducted on May 3, was cancelled after allegations surfaced that the question paper had been leaked. A fresh examination was subsequently held on June 21. Following the controversy, the Central Government ordered a CBI investigation into the matter.

So far, 13 accused have been arrested in connection with the NEET paper leak case.

According to the investigation, Manisha Waghmare allegedly provided the NEET question paper to Dhananjay Lokhande, who later passed it on to Shubham Khairnar.

On May 14, the court remanded five accused to seven days of CBI custody. They included Shubham Khairnar of Nashik, Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal of Jaipur, and Yash Yadav of Gurugram.

Shubham Khairnar was arrested in Mumbai on May 13 and subsequently brought to Delhi on a two-day transit remand. He is a resident of Nashik in Maharashtra.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar