The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by NEET-UG paper leak accused Dhananjay Nivrutti Lokhande challenging his arrest and seeking immediate release on the ground that he was not supplied a copy of his arrest memo.

A Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja imposed costs of ₹25,000 on Lokhande, observing that the petition was "absolutely meritless" and an abuse of the process of law.

The Court said that the amount should be deposited with the Advocates Welfare Fund.

“We find the present petition to be an abuse of the process of law. This is absolutely meritless. Accordingly, we dismiss the same with a cost of ₹25,000,” the Court said.

Lokhande was arrested on May 13 in connection with alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination. The 25-year-old approached the High Court after the trial court rejected his plea for a copy of the arrest memo on August 22.

In his appeal before the High Court, Lokhande argued that his arrest was illegal in the absence of an arrest memo and that the only document in the chargesheet relating to his arrest was a two-page personal search memo dated May 13.

The plea alleged that the record did not contain the grounds or reasons for arrest, details regarding the date, time and place of arrest or proof that the grounds of arrest were communicated to him.

Special Public Prosecutor Premtosh Kumar Mishra appeared for CBI and submitted that the grounds of arrest were communicated to Lokhande after his arrest and that the information was also conveyed telephonically.

The NEET-UG examination held on May 3 was cancelled by the National Testing Agency following allegations of a paper leak, leading to widespread protests and uncertainty among aspirants. A re-examination was subsequently ordered for June 21.

The CBI has since filed a chargesheet against 13 accused, alleging that its investigation traced the leak from paper setters to beneficiary candidates and uncovered a larger conspiracy.