Who Is Shubham Khairnar? Nashik Student Arrested In Explosive NEET-UG 2026 Paper Leak Case

NEEET PAPER LEAK SCANDAL: On May 12, the Nashik Crime Branch arrested a young man in Nashik’s Indira Nagar area in a significant move in the NEET-UG 2026 exam paper leak controversy, who has been identified as ‘Shubham Khairnar’. The arrest is reportedly made as a result of inputs shared by the Rajasthan Police. But this wasn’t his only arrest. As of now, nine have been arrested in five different states, and nearly 45 have been detained or questioned in the case, reports said.

Who is Shubham Khairnar?

Officials said that Shubham Khairnar is a student of Bachelor of Medical Sciences at Bhopal University. His approximate age is 30, and he resides in the Indiranagar area of Nashik with his family. He is originally from Nandgaon taluka in Nashik district. It is said that he got a physical copy of the ‘guess paper’ in Nashik a couple of days before the NEET exam on May 3 and gave a soft copy to someone in Haryana.

The arrest of Khairnar reportedly took place around noon when he was going to the temple for darshan. He had also supposedly altered his appearance and even shaved his hair, to stop people identifying him. He couldn’t, however, cover up his identity and was arrested by the police after they were able to recognise his face from old photos.

Who is the mastermind of NEET paper leak scandal?  

Sources say Manish Yadav is the main guy suspected of pulling the strings in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak. Right now, he’s in custody. There’s also Rakesh Mandawariya and police say he is the one who distributed the leaked exam papers. He’s been detained too.

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