NEET-UG cancelled, 14,000 MP aspirants affected:Students say year-long effort wasted, future uncertain

Amid mounting allegations of a paper leak, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has cancelled NEET-UG 2026, triggering anxiety and anger among students and parents across the country. Around 14,000 candidates had appeared for the medical entrance examination at 33 centres in Bhopal. Students said the cancellation had undone months of preparation and pushed many into mental stress. “I prepared for NEET throughout the year and appeared for the examination with full effort. In the end, the exam got cancelled. It is extremely disappointing,” said candidate Sarthak Yadav, adding that students now face renewed pressure to prepare again without any assurance such incidents will not recur. Another candidate, Ishika Sahu, who appeared for NEET for the first time, said the decision was unfair to students who had spent years preparing or taken a drop year for the examination. “Now there is talk of re-NEET. Such situations put students under mental stress,” she said. ‘Students completely discouraged’ Nishant Sapre, director of a coaching institute in Bhopal, termed the situation “extremely unfortunate” and called for strict action against officials responsible for the alleged lapses. “A student works hard throughout the year and families invest emotionally and financially in the preparation. When the exam gets cancelled, students become completely discouraged. Many children may also suffer from stress and depression,” he said. The NTA has said fresh registration will not be required for the re-examination and the same examination centres will be retained. However, fresh admit cards will be issued. The agency has also announced that examination fees will be refunded. Leak probe points to organised racket Investigating agencies have alleged that examination questions reached a cheating network even before the paper was printed. According to the probe, the gang allegedly possessed 90 Biology and 35 Chemistry questions in advance, with links of the network traced to Jaipur. The Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG) arrested a man identified as Manish from Jaipur on Monday. Investigators suspect he was the mastermind behind the racket, which is believed to have spread across multiple states. Agencies said the accused and his associates allegedly mixed leaked questions with other material to prepare a “question bank” that was distributed among students. Investigators found that 90 Biology questions and 35 out of 45 Chemistry questions matched the actual examination paper. Several students questioned by the SOG reportedly admitted to paying money in exchange for access to the material. Agencies are now tracing the financial trail and investigating the scale of the operation. Handwritten ‘guess paper’ under scanner The NTA said the matter was handed over to central agencies on May 8 after preliminary findings suggested the fairness and transparency of the examination had been compromised. In Rajasthan, investigators recovered handwritten “guess papers” from several students, with many questions allegedly matching the actual examination. On May 10, the Rajasthan SOG detained 15 suspects from Dehradun, Sikar and Jhunjhunu. Investigators found that questions carrying nearly 600 marks out of the total 720 had allegedly reached some students in Sikar two days before the examination. The material is suspected to have been circulated through a student pursuing MBBS in Kerala. The question bank recovered by agencies reportedly contains more than 300 handwritten questions from Physics, Chemistry and Biology, many appearing to be written in the same handwriting. Around 150 questions are said to have matched the actual NEET-UG 2026 paper exactly. Questions over credibility resurface The controversy has revived memories of the 2024 NEET paper leak allegations, when evidence of irregularities later surfaced in Patna and Hazaribagh despite initial denials by the NTA. At the time, the Supreme Court declined to cancel the entire examination and ordered re-examination only for 1,539 candidates at select centres. The controversy had also raised questions after 67 students secured perfect scores and multiple toppers emerged from the same centre. With fresh allegations emerging in 2026, concerns over the credibility and security of India’s largest medical entrance examination have intensified once again.