The main accused in the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) paper leak case, Bijendra Kumar Gupta, has been arrested from Bihar by the Bhiwandi police.
According to the police, Gupta was brought to Pune airport and will be taken to Bhiwandi for further legal proceedings, ANI reported.
Read also | 3 printing employees detained due to TET paper leak
A number of others were arrested earlier
On July 5, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the TET-2026 paper leak in Maharashtra, arrested three employees of an Agra-based printing press for allegedly leaking the exam paper during the printing process, taking the total number of arrests in the case to 10, HT had reported earlier.
Gupta remained on the run at the time.
The accused have been identified as Nareshkumar Puranchand Mahuri (35), Sanjaykumar Surechandra Chandra (44) and Babulal Narayansingh Kushwaha (45). They were brought from Delhi and produced before a Bhiwandi court on Saturday, which remanded them in police custody till July 9.
According to the SIT, Mahur allegedly leaked the question paper from the printing press and handed it over to former employee Sanjay Kumar Sharma and co-accused absconding Sonu Kumar.
The leaked paper was handed over to Bijendra Gupta
Investigators alleged that the two then supplied the leaked paper to Bijendra Gupta, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the racket.
Police said Sharma was working as head of packing at the printing shop until two years ago, while Sonu Kumar was previously working in the same department.
Investigators suspect that the accused used his knowledge of the printing process to access confidential question papers.
“We have sought court remand for the accused to ascertain their connection with the Gupta, the amount paid for leaking the papers, and to investigate their exact role and involvement in the conspiracy. The court granted us remand till July 9,” Sumeet Jadhav, public prosecutor, told HT at the time.
The police also found three live cartridges from one of the arrested defendants.
“Recovery of three live cartridges from one of the accused also makes the investigation important. We need to ascertain where the cartridges came from and for what purpose he had them,” said Vijay Marathe, ACP, Bhiwandi.
