New Delhi, June 29: A Delhi court on Monday extended till July 11 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 on the expiry of their earlier 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 July 11.

Earlier, on June 15, the Rouse Avenue Court had extended the judicial custody of the 10 accused till June 29. The court had also permitted the CBI to interrogate accused Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare and Dhananjay Lokhande inside jail on June 17, 18 and 19, respectively, for one hour each as part of the ongoing investigation.

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.

According to the probe agency, Latur-based doctor Manoj Shirure 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.

Tejas Harshad 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 Sanjay Havaldar.

The CBI has further alleged that Pune-based education consultant Manisha Waghmare acted as an intermediary 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.

According to the probe agency, 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, while Chemistry professor P.V. Kulkarni has been identified as the alleged kingpin of the paper leak network.

The CBI registered the case on May 12 based on a written complaint received from the Department of Higher Education under the Union Ministry of Education.

Following registration of the FIR, special teams were constituted and searches were carried out at multiple locations across the country. Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA) successfully conducted the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21 after the original examination was cancelled amid concerns over alleged irregularities.

More than 20 lakh medical aspirants appeared for the re-examination at 5,440 centres across India and 14 centres abroad.

Nearly 7 lakh personnel, including examination staff, police personnel, observers and administrative officials, were deployed to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination.

More than 95,000 examination rooms were monitored through over 1.38 lakh CCTV cameras, while over 51,000 signal jammers were installed to prevent electronic malpractice.

The re-examination was conducted under extensive security measures, including Aadhaar-based biometric verification, facial authentication, two-layer frisking, real-time surveillance and command-and-control centre monitoring, aimed at ensuring transparency and preserving the integrity of one of the country’s largest entrance examinations.

New Delhi, June 28: More than 75 per cent of Delhi government work is now done through the e-Office system, said Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday as the electronic file system approaches its first anniversary on July 1.

The Chief Minister said the reach of the e-Office system has expanded since April 13, with 120 of the 132 government departments, about 91 per cent, using it regularly.

Similarly, 36 of the 55 public sector undertakings, boards, corporations, commissions, committees, autonomous and local bodies, or about 65.5 per cent, are using the system, she said in a statement.

Among universities, colleges and other educational institutions, 21 out of 48 institutions, or about 43.8 per cent, have adopted e-Office. Overall, 177 of the 235 departments and offices, about 75.3 per cent, are now regularly carrying out official work through the e-Office system, said Chief Minister Gupta.

She said, earlier, most official work was carried out through paper files. Today, file movement, correspondence and approvals are handled online.

This has accelerated file disposal, improved transparency and accountability in government functioning, and helped ensure the timely delivery of public services, she said.

The Chief Minister said the e-Office system now makes it easy to identify which official is handling a particular file and what action has been taken on it. The system has also made record-keeping more secure, reduced unnecessary delays and enabled smoother coordination among departments.

This is why the Delhi government is steadily expanding the system to cover more departments and institutions.

She said by June 27, a total of 15,748 officers and employees across 235 departments and offices were using e-Office for online file processing and official work.

Chief Minister Gupta said that since the functioning of all departments and institutions is not the same, the Delhi government has developed the e-Office system under three separate categories.

The first is meant exclusively for government departments; the second for public sector undertakings, boards, corporations, commissions, committees, autonomous bodies and local bodies; and the third for universities, colleges and other educational institutions.

This has enabled each category to function more effectively according to its specific requirements. Accordingly, the use of e-Office was made mandatory across all Delhi government departments from July 1, 2025.

Ayodhya, June 28: Police on Sunday conducted searches at the residences of all the eight accused, arrested in connection with alleged misappropriation of donations and offerings at the Ram Mandir.

This comes after the eight individuals were sent to three-day judicial custody on Friday. They will stay in jail till June 29 and will be produced before the city court again on Monday.

Krishna Nand Tiwari, a neighbour of accused Anukalp Mishra, said: “Action is being taken, brother (Mishra) or whoever is involved in this, whoever has committed theft or wrongdoing, they should be given the strictest punishment. They should be ashamed of their act, especially since it is related to God. They have betrayed the faith of crores of devotees.”

About the accused, he said: “Though he (Mishra) didn’t come across as such a kind of person, but one can never gauge anybody’s intentions.”

Another neighbour, Anurag, said he had known Mishra for around a year. “He was a person of good nature; we used to greet each other whenever we met. But I don’t know if he had any malicious intention,” he told media.

Accused Tinnu Yadav’s neighbour Tara Devi said: “Tinnu is like a brother. Searches at his home will only take place when all the neighbours are around.”

Asserting that Yadav was a good person, she claimed: “He is being framed.”

A total of eight accused have been booked for alleged theft at the temple, and all were subsequently arrested. The FIR was registered at Ayodhya Kotwali police station on Thursday, based on a complaint filed by Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

Those named in the case include Ramshankar Yadav (alias Tinnu), who is associated with temple management; Trust employees Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, and Avinash Shukla; and retired bank employee Subhash Srivastava.

The filing of the case came soon after a three-member SIT flagged several irregularities at multiple levels in its preliminary report.

The police state that the entire episode of alleged theft will be uncovered based on interrogation of the accused and CCTV-based evidence. If more names are revealed in the investigation, action will be taken against them as well.

The preliminary probe has highlighted key roles played by each accused at various levels. The role of Ramshankar Yadav, alias Tinnu Yadav, is particularly under increased scrutiny.