'Sack Dharmendra Pradhan now': Rahul Gandhi says NEET paper leak 'betrayed' 22 lakh aspirants

NEW DELHI: Congress person Rahul Gandhi connected Saturday intensified his onslaught connected the Centre implicit the NEET-UG 2026 insubstantial leak row, demanding the removal of Union acquisition curate Dharmendra Pradhan.Taking to X, Rahul Gandhi said, “Twenty-two lakh NEET kids person been cheated. Yet Modi ji isn't uttering a azygous word. Remove Dharmendra Pradhan ji close now, oregon instrumentality work yourself.”“Modi ji, SACK Dharmendra Pradhan ji NOW,” the Congress person added.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) connected Tuesday cancelled NEET-UG 2026, held connected May 3, aft investigators recovered grounds that respective questions akin to those successful the introspection insubstantial had been circulated earlier the test.

The authorities aboriginal handed implicit the lawsuit to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), portion the introspection volition present beryllium re-conducted connected June 21.The cancellation has affected astir 23 lakh aspirants and marks the archetypal clip the full NEET-UG introspection has been scrapped since the NTA took implicit conducting the trial successful 2019. In 2024, the exam was partially re-conducted for 1,563 students pursuing discrepancies successful marks.

Meanwhile, the CBI connected Saturday arrested different alleged mastermind successful the case. The accused, identified arsenic Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, is simply a elder Botany teacher from Pune, Maharashtra.Also work | NEET insubstantial leak: CBI arrests Pune botany teacher who NTA appointed arsenic expertAccording to the agency, Mandhare was arrested successful Delhi aft questioning. Investigators alleged that she was the root of leaked Biology questions successful the aesculapian entranceway examination.The CBI said Mandhare was associated with the NEET-UG 2026 introspection process and had been appointed by the NTA arsenic an expert, giving her entree to Botany and Zoology question papers.Rahul Gandhi had besides questioned the Centre connected Friday implicit the rising fig of suicides linked to the NEET insubstantial leak row. Referring to the decease of a 21-year-old pupil successful Uttar Pradesh who allegedly died by termination aft the exam cancellation, helium said, “These youngsters didn’t suffer to the exams; they were killed by a corrupt system. This isn’t suicide—it’s execution by the system.”