After month-long searches in several northern states, Bijender Gupta, the alleged mastermind behind the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test-2026 (TET-2026) paper leak, was finally arrested late on Friday.
Gupta was arrested in Samastipur in Bihar and taken to Bhiwandi on Saturday. He was brought before a local court, which remanded him in police custody until July 30. One of Gupta’s aides, Indrajit Vijay Singh, was arrested along with him.
Read also | After the TET leak, a committee was appointed to study the feasibility of conducting the tests online
Saturday’s arrests bring the total number of people arrested in the case to 14, including Gupta’s wife, Suman Gupta. Sonu Kumar, a printing press employee suspected of leaking TET papers from Agra Press, is on the run.
Gupta is the suspected mastermind behind the leak of at least 20 competitive and vocational exams conducted in several states, according to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Thane Police probing the TET-2026 case. He was arrested in some of these cases, but was released on bail, allowing him to resume his illegal activities. His wife, Sonu, was arrested on charges of providing financial assistance and transferring money to other accused.
Police said Gupta had been on the move since the TET paper leak came to light on June 27. The special investigation team kept his friends, relatives and those close to him under surveillance. When they learned that Indrajit Singh was a close associate of Gupta and that they had known each other for years in Delhi, investigators monitored Singh’s digital fingerprint, and suspected that he was harboring Gupta in Samastipur.
Read also | Two others are in custody in the TET-2026 paper leak case
Using digital tools, they tracked down Singh on Friday, raided the location and found Gupta there. The Thane SIT team took him to Bhiwandi on Saturday.
“Gupta had a long-standing relationship with Mahim Patran Ltd, the Agra-based printing press used by several states to print examination question papers. He kept staff at the press on his payroll,” Pawan Bansod, DCP (Zone II), told HT.
He said Gupta used a simple and effective working method. Three arrested press staff – Nareshkumar Mahuri, 35, Sanjaykumar Chandra, 44, and Babulal Kushwaha, 45 – would provide regular updates to Gupta about question papers being printed in the press, and depending on the importance of the exam, Gupta would ask them to steal copies of question papers from the press.
Bansod said the investigation into the racket is ongoing, and they hope Gupta will provide details about suppliers, buyers, financial transactions and the identity of other people involved.
The police are also investigating the printing press itself because they believe that the press charged with printing sensitive recruitment examination papers should not be riddled with security vulnerabilities.
Read also | 3 printing employees detained due to TET paper leak
The TET-2026 paper leak came to light on June 27, when Bhiwandi police, acting on secret intelligence, raided a location in Kungaon village, 5 km from Bhiwandi city, and seized copies of the leaked question papers of the exam. The accused – Akash Kumar, 30, Rajeev Shah, 45, and Darraj Kumar, 28 – were involved in negotiating with potential buyers of the leaked papers.
Subsequent verification with the Maharashtra State Board of Examinations (MSCE) confirmed that the seized papers matched the actual question paper formulated for the TET exam scheduled to be conducted on June 28 across 1,028 exam centres. The state government subsequently postponed the exam, which was to be taken by more than 600,000 candidates.
