Thane, Question papers for the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test were smuggled out of an Agra printing press hidden inside shoe insoles by two employees for a mere ₹ 8,000, a nearly 3,500-page chargesheet filed by the Thane City police stated.
Subsequent verification with Maharashtra State Council of Examination officials confirmed that the seized material matched the actual question paper. Police laid a trap using decoy personnel in the Kongaon area, detained the suspects, and seized four sets of question papers. Police have identified Gupta, a former coaching class teacher, as the alleged mastermind of the interstate racket. In addition to money trails and technical logs, the police have cited the recovery of an original question paper from the Bihar residence of Gupta’s relative as a key piece of physical evidence establishing the supply chain.
The chargesheet, submitted before a local court in Bhiwandi on Friday, names 18 accused, including alleged mastermind Bijendra Gupta, who was previously implicated in an Odisha paper leak, with 16 suspects already arrested and two key accomplices, Ashok Sav and Prakash Misal, remaining absconding as investigations continue. The racket unravelled a day before the examination scheduled on June 28 after Deputy Commissioner of Police Pavan Bansod received a tip-off about three men attempting to sell exam papers to a Bhiwandi resident.
A senior police official said that a supplementary chargesheet will be submitted as further investigation progresses. He was previously implicated in another examination paper leak in Odisha, the official said.
A Special Investigation Team is probing the case.
