Police have arrested a pre-recruitment training centre owner based in Solapur district of Maharashtra in connection with the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) paper leak case, taking the number of those held in the scam so far to 16, an official said on Tuesday.
The accused, arrested by Thane district's Bhiwandi police, was identified as Prakash Pawar, a resident of Solapur in western Maharashtra, and half a dozen paper sets linked to TET examinations were recovered from him, he said.
According to police, Pawar had been running a pre-recruitment training centre named Dhruv Pratishthan for nearly a decade, where he provided coaching to candidates aspiring for government positions and teaching roles.
"During the ongoing investigation into the network involved in leaking examination papers, Pawar's role surfaced, leading to his apprehension. Search operations yielded 26 examination-related paper sets from his possession. While a majority of these documents pertain to recruitment mock tests, at least six paper sets are directly linked to TET examinations," a senior official with the Bhiwandi police said.
A local court remanded Pawar to police custody till August 15 to facilitate detailed interrogation and unearth the broader module operating behind the racket, which came to light in June-end, he said.
Investigating officers are currently scrutinizing the seized documents, phone records, and financial operations associated with the training academy to ascertain whether leaked question papers were distributed to candidates prior to the test, police stated.
According to preliminary findings, Pawar had trained around 1,000 students over the years under an arrangement where candidates paid charges after passing.
Investigators are probing whether this model was utilized to collect and channel illicit funds derived from paper leak operations.
"We are examining all angles to determine how the accused accessed these examination materials and whether additional sub-agents or insiders were involved. Further arrests have not been ruled out as the probe progresses," the police official added.
The defence counsel representing Pawar refuted allegations of his client's involvement in the paper leak, describing him as a "dedicated educator" who has devoted years helping underprivileged students succeed in competitive examinations.
"He was arrested on the ground that one of the accused, currently in judicial custody, had received 26 papers, of which 20 are in respect of police recruitment for students of Dhruv Academy (run by Pawar) and 5 to 6 are of TET students of exams which took place several years ago," said the counsel.
Speaking to reporters outside the court, Pawar's counsel, advocate Narayan Iyer, stated that his client holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and a Diploma in Education (DEd) from Solapur.
Pawar previously served as a school teacher and had himself appeared for a TET examination in the past, though he did not clear it, he said.
"Observing the immense struggles faced by youth from poor and marginalized sections of society who aspired to crack competitive exams for police recruitment and lower-tier government posts, Pawar decided to establish a training centre," the advocate said.
Pawar set up the 'Dhruv Academy' on his seven-acre property in Solapur, operating it from 2012 to 2020.
The academy specifically catered to candidates preparing for Class C and Class D competitive examinations, including constable and lower-grade clerk positions, according to Iyer.
According to the counsel, admission to the academy was entirely free of charge. Candidates were only asked to pay nominal fees if they successfully cleared the competitive examinations and secured employment.
Iyer highlighted that over an eight to 10-year period, around 1,000 aspirants underwent training at the Dhruv Academy, of which more than 500 candidates successfully passed their respective examinations.
Pawar earned widespread respect and reputation among students for his affectionate and dedicated teaching style, he claimed.
However, Pawar suffered a severe setback after contracting COVID-19 in 2020, which resulted in the loss of vision in one eye and left him with prolonged physical health complications, said the counsel.
Maintaining that his client has been wrongly implicated in the case, Iyer asserted that Pawar's past social initiative should not be misrepresented and expressed confidence that the ongoing police probe will establish his innocence.
The paper leak came to light on June 27, when the Bhiwandi police, acting on confidential intelligence, raided a location and seized copies of unauthorised question papers.
Subsequent verification with Maharashtra State Council of Examination (MSCE) officials confirmed that seized material matched the actual question paper drafted for the TET, which was scheduled for June 28 across 1,028 examination centres.
The state government subsequently postponed the TET 2026 examination, followed by registration of an FIR at the Bhiwandi police station and formation of an SIT to probe the case.
The alleged mastermind of the TET paper leak case and another accused were nabbed from Bihar in July-end.
The alleged kingpin, Vijayendrakumar alias Bijendra Kumar Gupta, and his associate Indrajit Singh, were apprehended from Samastipur in Bihar.
TET is a mandatory qualifying examination required for anyone seeking a teaching job in government and government-aided schools for Classes 1 to 8.
(With inputs from PTI)