New Delhi/Mumbai: The CBI has significantly expanded its NEET-UG-2026 paper leak probe, with investigators now focused on a possible “insider role”, even as another suspect was arrested from Pune and a retired chemistry professor detained in Latur.As the total arrests rose to seven, sources said investigators were trying to find out whether there was a breach from within the main chain of high security, custody and access ahead of the medical entrance exams being canceled on May 3 due to the leak.CBI officials are seeking information from NTA, which conducts NEET, about every stakeholder who had access to the question paper before it was sealed. It includes details of the entire process of question preparation including information about the people who set the questions and the subject experts, professors and teachers included in the question preparation panel. Separately, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a high-level meeting at his Delhi residence late on Thursday night with top officials on the new NEET exam, the dates of which will be announced later.In Pune, the CBI on Thursday identified the suspect arrested as beauty parlor owner Manisha Waghmare, who was picked up from Sukhsagar Nagar area of ​​the city.Waghmare had allegedly acted as an intermediary for Dhananjay, a BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) passout who ran a consultancy in Pune and was one of the six people arrested on Wednesday – three from Jaipur and one each from Gurgaon, and Maharashtra’s Nashik and Ahilya Nagar. Waghmare allegedly received money from around two dozen bank accounts before the trial.The CBI said it conducted searches at 14 locations on Thursday, the action came after those arrested were produced in court and sent on seven-day remand for questioning. An officer said, “Several other suspects are being interrogated. More arrests will be made in the coming days. The CBI is following all the leads.”The retired chemistry teacher detained for questioning by the CBI in Latur was from Dayanand Sagar College, officials said. Sources said the person had access to the entire NEET question paper as part of the translation panel responsible for presenting the paper in Marathi. NEET is conducted in 13 languages, requiring multiple parallel translation workflows under strict confidentiality protocols.Officials declined to disclose the professor’s identity or specify his exact role, citing the sensitivity of the investigation. Latur, long considered a coaching center that attracts students from across Maharashtra, has emerged as a focal point in the investigation. The complaint filed by a parent at the SP office two days ago alleged that 42 questions in the mock test conducted by a private coaching institute in the city matched the NEET paper.In Rajasthan, investigators suspect Dinesh Biwal, one of the three arrested from the state, of scanning the hard copy of the leaked NEET paper and sharing it digitally. He allegedly obtained the paper for his son from Yash Yadav, another arrested suspect from Gurgaon, and later gave or sold it to other students known to him in Sikar district.In Delhi, where some of the suspects were remanded by a local court, the CBI alleged a “larger conspiracy” behind the nationwide leaks. The agency told the court that custodial interrogation was necessary to nab other culprits, recover digital devices and electronic evidence, unearth financial clues and “identify possible officials of NTA” involved in the crime.(Inputs from Dishank Purohit in Jaipur and Kaushiki Saha in Delhi)