Nearly a month after the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2026 was postponed over a question paper leak, police have arrested the alleged mastermind, Bijendra Kumar Baleshwar Shah, who was living under a false identity in Bihar.
The main accused, along with his associate Indrajeet Singh alias Piku, was brought to Bhiwandi after being arrested by the Bhiwandi Police in Patna.
Both accused were taken to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone-2 office in Bhiwandi, where they are being interrogated as part of the ongoing investigation.
According to the police, Bijendra Kumar had been absconding for nearly a month before his arrest. With these latest arrests, the total number of accused apprehended in connection with the TET paper leak case has risen to 14.
Police added that the investigation is now focused on unearthing the entire paper leak network and identifying the roles of other individuals involved in the racket.
Gupta allegedly has been linked to multiple paper leak cases. He has allegedly been involved in leaks related to the 2023 Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) examination, the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination and the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) examination.
The TET 2026 examination was postponed on June 27, a day before it was scheduled to be conducted, after police in Maharashtra's Thane district detected that a portion of the question paper had been leaked and arrested three persons.
Investigators have since found that the alleged racket extended across Delhi, Agra, Bihar and Haryana. Earlier, the SIT arrested Suman Kumari Gupta, wife of the alleged mastermind Bijendra, from Patna after call records and financial transactions reportedly linked her to him.
Initial probe found that the confidential question papers were allegedly sourced directly from Mahim Patran Pvt. Ltd, a private printing press located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
The TET paper leak came close on the heels of the national controversy triggered by the NEET-UG paper leak, raising fresh concerns over the integrity of competitive examinations.
(With inputs from ANI)
