Thane: A 35-year-old absconding accused in the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) paper leak case surrendered before a Bhiwandi court on Monday and was subsequently arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case, police said.
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Sonu Kumar Diwakar was allegedly a key link in the racket who obtained the TET-2026 examination paper from an Agra-based printing press and supplied it to the alleged mastermind, Bijender Gupta.
With Diwakar’s arrest, the total number of accused in the case has reached 15. The 35-year-old was produced in court on Tuesday and remanded to police custody till August 2, officers said.
“Consequently, he came to Bhiwandi and surrendered before the court, following which we formally arrested him. Sonu was a key link in the racket who obtained the leaked paper from the press and supplied it to Bijender. He was produced in court today and remanded to police custody,” Sangle added.
The Maharashtra TET-2026 paper leak case unfolded on June 27, when the Thane City Police intercepted a ₹1.5 crore transaction in Bhiwandi and seized copies of Paper 1 and Paper 2 just a day before the exam. An SIT set up to probe the leak eventually uncovered an inter-state racket operating out of the printing press in Agra.
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Assistant commissioner of police Sachin Sangle, who is part of the SIT, said that Diwakar surrendered after the police raided locations in Bihar to trace him. “With 14 accused already arrested in the case and the SIT raiding locations in Bihar to trace him, Diwakar realised his arrest was imminent,” Sangle said.
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According to the police, Diwakar is a former employee of Mahim Patran Ltd, the printing press in Agra from where the Maharashtra TET-2026 paper was leaked.
Officers said that Diwakar quit his job at the press, but maintained contact with three employees—Nareshkumar Puranchand Mahore, 35; Sanjaykumar Sureshchandra Chandra, 44; and Babulal Narayansingh Kushwaha, 45—who regularly provided him with information regarding examination papers being printed at the facility. Diwakar would then allegedly forward this information to Gupta and other co-conspirators.
According to investigators, employees of the press used to smuggle the question papers out inside the insoles of their shoes. The investigation reached a major breakthrough last week with the arrest of the mastermind, Gupta, and his close aide, Indrajeet Singh, in Bihar.
