Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the immediate resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the cancellation of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) exam held on May 3 over alleged paper leak.
Gandhi alleged a “money-making nexus” between the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and affiliated faculty across universities.
“The whole country knows that two days before the exam, the NEET question paper was being circulated on WhatsApp. India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan ji, says that he has nothing to do with this,” Gandhi said in a video posted on X.
The leader of opposition’s remarks are followed by a large-scale protest by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) in New Delhi earlier during the day, which resulted in several members, including the party chief Uday Bhanu Chib, being detained.
Gandhi in his video called for the immediate “sacking” of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the paper leak.
“The Prime Minister should give an immediate order for Dharmendra Pradhan ji to resign. He should be sacked, and the guilty should be arrested and put in jail,” he said.
He also criticised the PM for not addressing the leak, adding that he was “silent” while over 2.2 million students were “cheated”.
“22 lakh NEET kids have been cheated. But Modi ji isn’t saying a word. Remove Dharmendra Pradhan ji right now, or take responsibility yourself. Modi ji, SACK Dharmendra Pradhan ji NOW,” he wrote on X.
Gandhi also accused the government of “damaging India’s core,” alleging that the BJP and RSS have a “money-making nexus” involving faculty members placed inside the country’s universities.
“This is a nexus with RSS, BJP and their people placed in our universities. Vice chancellors and professors have been placed. They have a money-making nexus among them, which has ended India’s education system,” he said.
“The whole country knows that if you want to become a vice chancellor, you don’t need subject knowledge or experience. If you are from RSS, you can become a vice chancellor,” Gandhi claimed said in the video, adding that the practice has caused 80 paper leaks and destroyed the future of around 20 million youths in the country.
Also Read: Re-NEET date announced: Exam to be held on June 21, says NTA
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested alleged mastermind in the NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak case. The accused identified as Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, is a senior teacher of botany (biology) from Pune who was also part of the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) paper-setting panel for the medical entrance exam.
Her arrest came a day after the CBI tracked down and arrested the alleged main conspirator in the case, chemistry teacher PV Kulkarni. He was also involved in the examination process through the NTA, which gave him access to question papers.
Investigators alleged that Mandhare shared leaked questions and answers with selected students and collected fees worth several lakh rupees.
Meanwhile, students also paid several lakh rupees to attend Kulkarni’s sessions, where they copied down questions in notebooks, officials told news agency PTI. Exact amounts were not known yet.
So far, nine people from five states have been arrested over four days. They include Mandhare, Kulkarni and Waghmare from Pune, Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar, Khairnar from Nashik, Mangilal Biwal, also identified as Mangilal Khatik, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal from Jaipur, and Yadav from Gurugram.
The agency said on Saturday that searches were carried out at six places across the country over the last 24 hours. Officials recovered documents, laptops, bank records and mobile phones that may be linked to the case.
