The national NEET-UG paper leak scandal has planted itself firmly on Maharashtra soil. The CBI’s investigation into the leak that forced the Centre to cancel the May 3 medical entrance exam for over 2.2 million candidates has now reached a Pune coaching institute and a doctor in Latur, even as the political fallout builds toward a joint street march by Uddhav and Raj Thackeray in Mumbai on July 26.
According to the CBI’s ongoing probe, physics faculty member Tejas Harshadkumar Shah of Dr Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy, a Pune coaching centre, was arrested for allegedly receiving leaked physics questions before the exam. Latur-based doctor Manoj Shirure was arrested in a related case, accused of helping three students obtain leaked chemistry questions. One of the three is the son of a coaching centre owner already under arrest. The two arrests take the nationwide tally in the case to 13, with investigators saying searches have been conducted at 49 locations and the leaked chemistry, biology and physics questions traced back to sources circulating before the exam date.
From an exam scandal to a street movement
What began as an examination-integrity investigation has since become a statewide political flashpoint. NEET-UG 2026 was cancelled on May 12 after investigators found overlaps between a pre-circulated guess paper and the actual questions. In the weeks since, student protests against the Centre have spread to Maharashtra. Protesters have also accused Delhi police of a heavy-handed response to demonstrators there, including allegations that officers assaulted students and tore the clothes of women protesters.
On July 23, the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi organised a statewide bandh over the leak and the alleged crackdown, with protests reported in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Demonstrators blocked the Panvel-Sion road in Mumbai and shuttered shops in areas like Byculla and Sion; Ambedkar said roughly 3,500 VBA workers were detained statewide, including 15 in Sambhajinagar. Days later, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS president Raj Thackeray announced a joint march for July 26, starting at Shivaji Park and ending at Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi. It is a rare joint appearance by the estranged cousins, called without party flags and reportedly backed by Congress’s Rahul Gandhi.
What it means for Maharashtra
Pune’s private coaching industry, along with district towns like Latur that feed thousands of aspirants into medical colleges each year, now sits close to the centre of the leak investigation. For families with children preparing for medical entrance exams, that raises pressure on coaching bodies to tighten oversight of how question papers and mock materials move between centres and students. The exam itself falls under central, not state, jurisdiction, but the arrested individuals and institutions are local.
Politically, the July 26 march matters beyond the NEET issue itself. A joint Thackeray appearance has been rare since the cousins’ parties split years ago. Framing it around student welfare rather than a shared electoral platform gives it broader reach than a typical opposition rally, while the stated demand stays narrow: accountability over the paper leak and the alleged police response to protesters.
What to watch
The CBI probe is still active, and further arrests connected to Maharashtra coaching centres are plausible given the scale of the 49-location search effort already conducted. Two questions will define the coming days: whether the July 26 march draws the crowds organisers expect, and whether it stays confined to the NEET issue or widens into a broader opposition show of unity.
Sources: Deccan Herald, Free Press Journal
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.