The alleged middleman in the 2026 NEET-UG ‘paper leak’ case has approached a Delhi court, seeking directions to jail authorities to provide him with three texts in judicial custody.

In his application, Dhananjay Nivrutti Lokhande sought the Shrimaan Yogi, a 1,000-plus page biographical novel on Shivaji Maharaj; the Hanuman Chalisa, composed by Saint Goswami Tulsidas in the 16th century; and texts of the Mangal Strota.

A Delhi court Tuesday allowed the application.

“Considering the facts and circumstances and the submissions made on behalf of A-8 (accused 8), jail authorities are directed to provide the religious book to the accused… (which shall be supplied by any of his family member/ authorised counsel) subject to security check and jail manual rules…,” said Special Judge (Fast Track Court) Ajay Gupta in his order dated September 1.

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According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the case, Lokhande allegedly had a key role in circulating the “leaked paper”.

“… Accused Lokhande, who is known to (co-accused) Shubham Khairnar, collected NEET examination 2026 material from co-accused Manisha Waghmare, who is a resident of Pune… Lokhande, after receiving the… paper, further transmitted (it) to accused… Khairnar,” the CBI had submitted earlier.

What the probe found

The CBI probe into the case has found that three subject experts took exam questions out of the National Testing Agency (NTA) office in Delhi using different methods – one allegedly scrawled questions on paper chits before hiding them while two others memorised the questions, and returned to their hotel rooms to either write them down or mark the relevant paragraphs in NCERT textbooks.

According to the CBI, they could do this because they were not frisked while exiting the “confidential section”, a wing situated on the first floor of the NTA office, which also lacked a dedicated CCTV live feed monitoring control room.

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Till date, the agency has made 13 arrests in the case.

More than 22.7 lakh aspirants appeared for the May 3 exam, which was cancelled by the NTA following the alleged leak. The retest took place on June 21 and the results were declared on July 16.