Bhiwandi: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2026 paper leak, has claimed that the alleged mastermind, Bijendra Gupta, had lured two employees of an Agra-based printing press that printed the question papers by promising them a plot of land each.According to investigators, Gupta also allegedly gave Babulal Kushwaha and Naresh Kumar, the two arrested printing press staffers, Rs 8,000 each for a ‘liquor party’.Police claimed that Kushwaha and Kumar exploited loopholes in the security system at the printing press to smuggle out copies of all four sets of the TET question papers before they were dispatched to Maharashtra and sent them to Gupta via his network.The investigation has further revealed that Gupta had finalised a deal to sell the leaked papers through arrested accused Kapil Dahiya to a Pune resident, who is still at large. Police claimed that the Pune man was in contact with nearly 50 teacher aspirants who were willing to buy the leaked question papers before the June 28 examination.The paper leak was foiled after Bhiwandi zone deputy commissioner of police Pawan Bansod received a tip-off a day before the examination. Posing as prospective buyers, police laid a trap in Kongaon and arrested three persons who were allegedly attempting to sell the TET question papers. State education department officials later confirmed that the seized papers were genuine, leading to the registration of the case and formation of an SIT.Till date, the SIT has arrested 12 accused, including Dahiya, Kushwaha, Kumar, and Gupta’s wife Suman from Bihar. Investigators have also seized hard disks, mobile phones, forged identity documents, and other digital evidence while probing the money trail and the interstate network behind the racket.Police have intensified the manhunt for Gupta. Bansod, who is leading the investigation, said, “Police teams are conducting searches at multiple locations across Bihar based on technical surveillance and human intelligence to trace Gupta. His arrest is crucial to identifying the full extent of the syndicate and tracing the financial transactions.”
