NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday intensified his attack on the Centre over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak row, demanding the removal of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.Taking to X, Rahul Gandhi said, “Twenty-two lakh NEET kids have been cheated. Yet Modi ji isn’t uttering a single word. Remove Dharmendra Pradhan ji right now, or take responsibility yourself.”“Modi ji, SACK Dharmendra Pradhan ji NOW,” the Congress leader added.In the video posted, Rahul Gandhi said, “In NEET, for two years, 22 lakh students worked hard, worked day and night. Their hard work has gone to waste. The entire country knows that two days before the exam, the NEET paper was being shared on WhatsApp, it was being distributed.”“Dharmendra Pradhan ji, India’s Education Minister, says, ‘I have nothing to do with it.’ The committee had made recommendations, which he threw into the dustbin. He said, ‘Opposition people are sitting in the committee, it doesn’t mean anything, there is no need for it.’ The truth is that you have damaged the core, the center of India… The Prime Minister should give an immediate order that Dharmendra Pradhan ji should resign, he should be sacked, and the people who are guilty should be caught and put in jail,” he added.The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday cancelled NEET-UG 2026, held on May 3, after investigators found evidence that several questions similar to those in the examination paper had been circulated before the test. The government later handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), while the examination will now be re-conducted on June 21.The cancellation has affected nearly 23 lakh aspirants and marks the first time the entire NEET-UG examination has been scrapped since the NTA took over conducting the test in 2019. In 2024, the exam was partially re-conducted for 1,563 students following discrepancies in marks.Meanwhile, the CBI on Saturday arrested another alleged mastermind in the case. The accused, identified as Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, is a senior Botany teacher from Pune, Maharashtra.Also read | NEET paper leak: CBI arrests Pune botany teacher who NTA appointed as expertAccording to the agency, Mandhare was arrested in Delhi after questioning. Investigators alleged that she was the source of leaked Biology questions in the medical entrance examination.The CBI said Mandhare was associated with the NEET-UG 2026 examination process and had been appointed by the NTA as an expert, giving her access to Botany and Zoology question papers.Rahul Gandhi had also questioned the Centre on Friday over the rising number of suicides linked to the NEET paper leak row. Referring to the death of a 21-year-old student in Uttar Pradesh who allegedly died by suicide after the exam cancellation, he said, “These youngsters didn’t lose to the exams; they were killed by a corrupt system. This isn’t suicide—it’s murder by the system.”
