Accused Kulkarni chose to share questions with students who paid to attend 'special classes' he conducted in his apartment just before the exam

NEW DELHI: A seemingly innocuous WhatsApp message from a parent asking chemistry professor PV Kulkarni for his address to gift him a watch rang the first alarm-bells for CBI sleuths probing the NEET-UG paper leak. What followed was a scan of an access control app used in residential societies (Mygate) and analysis of a WhatsApp group named 'Fifa world cup', which helped the agency trace the students who bought papers and ultimately the question setters who leaked them.

The testing agency had not factored in the possibility of subversion by a subject expert.

Trail Led CBI To Students And Question Setters

Eight days before the exam, Havaldar had handwritten notes of the leaked paper on her phone. She dictated the leaked paper to accused Tejas Shah for further circulation. On April 14, Shah, a member of physics faculty and chief operating officer of Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy, noted down the leaked questions dictated by Havaldar.

Raj Shekhar Jha is a journalist for the Times of India with over a decade of experience in reporting on national security, terrorism, crime and prisons.