New Delhi, June 15: A Delhi court on Monday extended till June 29 the judicial custody of 10 accused in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The accused were produced before the Rouse Avenue Court through video conferencing from Tihar Jail upon the expiry of their previously granted judicial custody. The court extended the judicial custody of Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Dhananjay Lokhande, Tejas Harshad Shah, Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar and Dr Manoj Shirure till June 29.

The Rouse Avenue Court also permitted the CBI to interrogate accused Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare and Dhananjay Lokhande inside jail on June 17, 18 and 19, respectively.

The probe agency has been allowed to question each of the accused for one hour as part of its ongoing investigation into the alleged examination paper leak.

The CBI has so far arrested 13 accused in the case and is investigating an alleged network involved in procuring and circulating NEET-UG question papers ahead of the examination.

Earlier, on June 1, the Rouse Avenue Court had remanded accused Dr Manoj Shirure, Tejas Harshadkumar Shah and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar to judicial custody till June 15. The Central agency has alleged that Shirure, a Latur-based doctor, played a key role in facilitating three students, including the son of an accused coaching centre owner, in obtaining Chemistry questions from alleged kingpin P.V. Kulkarni before the examination.

Shah, a Physics faculty member at Pune-based Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy (APMA), is alleged to have received leaked Physics questions from co-accused Manisha Havaldar.

The case pertains to the alleged leak of the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper, following which the CBI registered an FIR on May 12 on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Department of Higher Education under the Union Ministry of Education.

According to the probe agency, Pune-based education consultant Manisha Waghmare was among the intermediaries involved in mobilising students who allegedly paid lakhs of rupees to attend special coaching sessions where questions that later appeared in the NEET-UG 2026 examination were dictated and discussed.

The CBI has claimed that Waghmare facilitated prospective candidates for special coaching classes conducted by NTA-appointed senior Botany teacher Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, who is suspected to be the co-mastermind behind the Biology paper leak.

Chemistry professor P.V. Kulkarni has been identified by the probe agency as the alleged kingpin of the paper leak network.

Meanwhile, the Centre has stepped up preparations for the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21 after the original examination held in May was cancelled following allegations that some questions had been leaked.

Amid preparations for the re-test, Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan recently reviewed the arrangements with National Testing Agency officials and warned that the “full might and weight of the law” would fall on anyone attempting to distort, disrupt or tamper with the integrity of the examination process.

The Centre has put in place enhanced security measures, including transportation of question papers by the Indian Air Force and deployment of CRPF and CISF personnel to assist local authorities in ensuring secure conduct of the re-examination.

The NTA has also announced an additional 15 minutes for candidates and increased space for rough work in answer booklets.

The Centre has maintained that coordinated efforts by the Union government, state governments and district administrations are aimed at safeguarding the integrity and credibility of the re-examination process.

Mumbai, June 15: A meeting convened by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence ‘Matoshree’ over the weekend has triggered fresh speculation over possible defections within the party’s Lok Sabha ranks, after several MPs remained absent in person.

While party managers aggressively spun a narrative of a unified front, the physical absence of the majority of its Lok Sabha MPs has exposed deep structural vulnerabilities in the Thackeray camp

Of the party’s 9 Lok Sabha MPs, only 4 were physically present at the meeting held on Sunday. The remaining 5 participated via video conference or phone, a “hybrid” arrangement that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena (Shinde Sena) immediately mocked.

“Uddhav Thackeray ran his government via Facebook Lives. Now his MPs are doing the same,” jeered Shinde Sena spokesperson Sheetal Mhatre. “This shows their hold over the party.

The emergency meeting was called against the backdrop of whispering campaigns regarding “Operation Tiger” — a coordinated effort by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena leader to engineer a second major split in the Sena legacy.

For the MahaYuti alliance, poaching Thackeray’s lawmakers is an existential and constitutional imperative. Under the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, a breakaway faction requires a two-thirds majority to bypass the anti-defection law and avoid disqualification. If Shinde woos just six MPs, he legally decimates Thackeray’s standing in Parliament, rendering the UBT faction a legislative rump and cementing his own claim as the absolute, legitimate successor to Balasaheb Thackeray’s legacy.

It would also deliver a near-fatal psychological blow to the UBT group as the Supreme Court continues to deliberate on the validity of the original 2022 split.

While Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut dismissed the defection rumours, threatening a retaliatory “Operation Wolf” to poach Shinde legislators, insiders admit that the hunter currently possesses far more bait than the prey.

Thackeray’s MPs are facing a triple bind of structural pressures. Being in opposition is an expensive affair, especially ahead of crucial municipal and state assembly elections. Parbhani MP Sanjay Jadhav raised eyebrows last month by candidly noting, “Economic calculations are important during polls… it is impossible to say what will happen next.”

Ground-level politicians are finding it structurally exhausting to match the deep-pocketed machinery of the ruling BJP-Shinde alliance. As a member of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition alongside Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP, the UBT faction faces territorial concessions. MPs fear that sacrificing local assembly segments or municipal wards to allies to maintain coalition unity will permanently erode their foundational vote banks.

Despite Uddhav Thackeray becoming significantly more accessible post-2022, a persistent grievance remains among rural and semi-urban MPs who feel the party’s inner circle is heavily dominated by Mumbai-centric leaders.

Sanjay Raut spent the post-meeting press conference painstakingly detailing the personal emergencies of the five absent lawmakers: a daughter’s wedding preparations for Yavatmal MP Sanjay Deshmukh, a hospitalised wife for Shirdi MP Bhausaheb Wakchoure, and local MLC election duties for Hingoli MP Nagesh Patil Ashtikar. Yet, party insiders remain deeply anxious.

The leadership had reportedly instructed all MPs to remain in Mumbai through the weekend, expecting them to use Aaditya Thackeray’s birthday on Saturday as a public demonstration of undivided loyalty. The failure of five MPs to show up in person over those two days has been interpreted by many within Matoshree as passive defiance.

Compounding the anxiety are recent footprints of political signalling. In recent weeks, MP Ashtikar was spotted visiting Chief Minister Shinde’s official residence, Nashik MP Rajabhau Waje held a quiet meeting with the CM’s son, Shrikant Shinde, and Shirdi’s Wakchaure met with State Industries Minister Uday Samant.

Against this backdrop, Uddhav Thackeray’s immediate challenge is to transition from defensive damage control to active grievance redressing. The political observers remarked that if Matoshree cannot guarantee robust financial backing and absolute territorial protection for its regional satraps within the MVA framework, the “hybrid” presence in party meetings may soon solidify into permanent physical exits.

“Operation Tiger” is far from dead; it is simply waiting for the political temperature in Maharashtra to hit the boiling point.

Tehran, June 15: The US naval blockade against Iran will be lifted as of tonight and the immediate and permanent end of the war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, is announced, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said early Monday.

Gharibabadi said Iran and the United States will sign the finalised draft of a peace memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Switzerland on June 19, Xinhua news agency reported quoting Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Tasnim also cited a source as saying that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen following the signing ceremony in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Iran’s state-run IRIB TV, also citing Gharibabadi, said Iran’s entry into a 60-day period of negotiations with the United States on its nuclear program and the removal of sanctions will hinge on the US fulfillment of its preliminary commitments, which will be verified by Tehran from now until the signing ceremony.

Earlier in the day, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on social media platform X that the United States and Iran had reached a peace agreement following intensive negotiations.

Sharif said that both sides had declared the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” and that mediators will facilitate a series of meetings this week aimed at preparing for the implementation of the agreement.

Minutes later, US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social that the US-Iran peace deal “is now complete” and he had authorised the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the immediate removal of the US naval blockade against Iranian ports.

However, Israel’s Ma’ariv news site, citing Israel sources, reported early Monday that in a phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump, Netanyahu made it clear that Israel “does not consider itself committed to the Lebanese clause in the US-Iran agreement.”

The reaching of the MoU came as somewhat of a surprise, as Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) warned Sunday evening of an imminent response to an earlier Israeli strike on Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

“Lebanon is our lifeblood, and any violation of Iran’s red lines will not be tolerated,” Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of the SNSC, was quoted by IRIB TV as saying.