A WhatsApp message from a parent asking chemistry professor PV Kulkarni for his address to gift him a watch became the first clue that helped the CBI trace the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, according to a report by The Times of India.Investigators then used logs from the Mygate residential access app and a WhatsApp group called ‘Fifa world cup’ to track students who allegedly bought leaked papers and identify the question setters involved.The CBI chargesheet said Mygate records showed students visiting the apartment of Kulkarni, an arrested accused and chemistry subject expert engaged by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The access records matched mobile phone data and helped corroborate the students’ locations.Also Read: SC turns down plea by 6 NEET candidates, asks them to move HCThe NEET-UG 2026 exam was cancelled on May 3 after the paper leak came to light and was reconducted on June 21.How the CBI traced the leakKulkarni was part of the NTA panel for setting the chemistry paper. Despite being bound by confidentiality, he allegedly shared questions with students who paid to attend special classes at his apartment shortly before the exam, the chargesheet said.The CBI said paper setters memorised or marked questions while they were being prepared at the NTA office. They later wrote them down at a hotel and passed the questions to other accused persons.Handwritten notes seized during the investigation matched questions in the leaked papers. Kulkarni’s phone also contained pre-exam leaked papers, contacts of candidates, parents and co-accused, nine images of the chemistry question paper and answer slips matching the NEET-UG papers.Also Read: NEET paper leak: CBI books NTA experts; life term and Rs 1 crore fine possibleKulkarni allegedly created a WhatsApp group called ‘special class’ on April 25. Parents paid him directly or sent money through co-accused Manisha Waghmare, a beautician, in exchange for the questions.Nine students attended Kulkarni’s classes between April 25 and 27, while three candidates attended similar classes in Latur, officials familiar with the probe told TOI. The CBI said eight students who joined the WhatsApp group, along with Kulkarni’s scouts, confirmed that the leaked paper was shared with them.Physics paper was leaked separatelyThe CBI also found that Kulkarni tried to obtain the physics paper for students. The physics paper was allegedly leaked separately by Manisha Havaldar, another paper setter on the NTA panel.Havaldar was also responsible for translating the question paper between English and Marathi. Despite her confidentiality undertaking, she allegedly shared physics questions with the mother of a candidate for Rs 25,000 at the insistence of another accused.Eight days before the exam, Havaldar allegedly had handwritten notes of the leaked physics paper on her phone. On April 14, she dictated the questions to accused Tejas Shah, a physics faculty member and chief operating officer of Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy, who noted them down for further circulation, the chargesheet said.Leaked papers transported to RajasthanThe investigation also traced the circulation of leaked papers to Rajasthan.Four days before the exam, 11 sets of leaked question papers were allegedly transported to Jhunjhunu in a black Hyundai Verna. The chargesheet said Mangilal Biwal and Dinesh Biwal, a Sikar-based family at the centre of the alleged leak, were carrying printed material covering physics, chemistry and biology.One receiver, identified as Amit, allegedly kept Class X and XII marksheets of candidates as security. Candidates were told they would have to pay only if more than 150 questions matched the actual exam paper, according to the CBI.‘Most expected’ paper reaches hostel studentsAnother accused, Shivraj Motegaonkar, managing partner of RCC coaching centre, allegedly circulated the leaked paper to students by presenting it as the “most expected” paper for the exam.On the night before NEET-UG, a PDF containing the question paper was allegedly shared with 40-50 hostel students at RCC coaching centre, investigators said.After the May 3 exam, some students appeared in a video claiming that questions predicted by Motegaonkar had appeared in the test. The CBI later found that the document described as the “RCC MOCK test question paper” was actually the leaked NEET-UG question paper.(With inputs from TOI)