New Delhi: NTA Director General Abhishek Singh told a parliamentary panel on Thursday that the NEET-UG 2026 paper was not leaked “through their system” and said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating the matter.During the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports on Thursday, several MPs questioned top officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA) over the alleged NEET paper leak.The parliamentary panel had summoned senior officials of the Education Ministry, including Education Secretary Vineet Joshi, NTA Chairman Pradeep Kumar Joshi and DG Abhishek Singh. NTA officials reportedly gave a detailed presentation on the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan committee report on reforms in the examination agency.According to PTI, several MPs questioned the NTA on the steps it was taking to strengthen the examination system and prevent future paper leaks. Sources told the agency that when MPs asked how the NET paper was leaked if not through the NTA system and why the exam had to be canceled and re-conducted, Singh said the matter was under CBI investigation.The report said some opposition MPs demanded that the CBI investigation report be placed before the committee, while BJP MPs objected, arguing that the agency should be allowed to work independently.NTA informed the panel that about 70 per cent of the short-term measures recommended in the Radhakrishnan report have already been implemented. Officials also said that the agency is considering conducting NEET through Computer Based Testing (CBT) platform in future.The panel members also expressed concern over the shortage of staff at the NTA. According to sources quoted by PTI, the agency informed the MPs that it is currently facing a staff shortage of about 25 per cent and efforts are underway to systematically fill the vacancies.After the meeting, panel chairman and Congress MP Digvijay Singh refused to disclose details of the deliberations and said the proceedings of the parliamentary committee were confidential. However, he later said that the meeting “went very well” and the members expressed concern over the NEET paper leak.NTA also briefed the committee about the measures being taken to prevent examination irregularities, including detailed SOPs for violation management, coordination with state administrations and monitoring of social media platforms for suspicious activity.NTA informed the panel that NEET-UG 2026 was conducted on May 3 at 5,432 centers in 565 cities, including 14 international cities. Over 22.7 lakh candidates had registered for the exam, while over 22.05 lakh candidates appeared.The NTA reportedly told the committee that it received inputs about the alleged malpractice on May 7, four days after the exams, and escalated the matter to central agencies on May 8. Following the investigation findings shared by law-enforcement agencies, it was decided to cancel NEET-UG 2026 and re-conduct the exam on June 21.