Thane City Police have filed a nearly 3,500-page charge sheet in the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) paper-leak case, alleging that confidential question papers were smuggled out of an Agra printing press hidden beneath two employees’ shoe insoles and circulated through an interstate network allegedly masterminded by Bijendra Gupta.
The charge sheet names 18 accused, of whom 16 have been arrested while two — Ashok Sav and Prakash Misal — remain absconding, ACP Bhiwandi Division Vijay Marathe said. Police have traced the leak to the Agra press where the TET papers were printed and have cited the recovery of an original question paper in Bihar, along with financial and technical evidence, to establish the alleged distribution chain.
According to the charge sheet, the source of the leak was Mahim Patran Pvt. Ltd., an Agra-based printing press where the Maharashtra TET question papers were being printed. Investigators allege that two serving employees and a former employee of the press removed the confidential papers by concealing them beneath their shoe insoles and walking past security.
An earlier investigation found that the papers were allegedly removed from the press between June 15 and June 17. The TET had two papers, with two sets of each printed so that one could be selected at random on the examination day. Police allege all four sets were smuggled out, effectively defeating that security safeguard.
Investigators have alleged that the press employees involved were paid ₹8,000 each and were also promised plots of land for facilitating the leak.
Police have identified Gupta as the alleged mastermind of the network, with the remaining accused allegedly playing roles in obtaining and circulating the leaked papers for money. According to Mr Marathe, Gupta had also been involved in an earlier examination paper-leak case in Odisha. Police have been examining his alleged links to other paper-leak cases as part of the wider investigation into the network.
The Maharashtra TET leak first came to light in Bhiwandi on June 27, a day before the examination was scheduled to be held.
According to police, Thane DCP Zone II Pavan Bansod received information that three persons had approached a Bhiwandi resident with a copy of the TET question paper. Police then laid a trap, using decoy personnel, and detained the three men in the Kongaon area.
Four sets of the TET question paper were recovered from the accused during the operation. Education department officials were called in and confirmed that the recovered material matched the papers prepared for the examination.
Following the recovery, the Maharashtra State Council of Examination postponed the TET scheduled for June 28.
In its official notice issued on June 27, the Council said Bhiwandi police had conducted an operation after receiving confidential information and had called MSCE officials to verify the seized material. The officials found that questions in the recovered papers matched the confidential TET question papers, following which the examination was postponed.
Kongaon Police Station subsequently registered a case in connection with the leak.
The investigation then expanded beyond Maharashtra as police worked backwards from the four sets recovered in Bhiwandi to establish where the leak had originated and how the papers had moved through the alleged interstate network.
The trail eventually led investigators to the Agra printing press. Police allege that confidential papers were removed from the premises by employees and subsequently passed through intermediaries connected to Gupta before copies reached persons attempting to sell them in Maharashtra.
The charge sheet cites the recovery of an original TET question paper in Bihar and the financial trail between the accused as important evidence in establishing the distribution chain. According to the investigation, the original paper was recovered from the Bihar residence of a relative of Gupta, who was subsequently arrested.
Police have also relied on phone records, financial transactions, seized material and other technical evidence to establish links between different members of the alleged racket.
The probe had earlier found that the mechanism used at the Agra press was strikingly simple. Security personnel frisked employees’ clothes but allegedly did not check their footwear, allowing folded question papers to be concealed beneath shoe insoles and removed from the premises.
Police say Gupta’s alleged network relied on cultivating lower-level employees at printing presses to obtain confidential examination material rather than necessarily involving senior officials at the presses.
As the investigation widened, police made arrests across several states. Sixteen accused have now been arrested, while Sav and Misal remain absconding, Mr. Marathe said. The arrested accused continue to remain in judicial custody.
The present case has been registered under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy, along with the provisions of Maharashtra laws dealing with examination malpractices and unfair means.
The filing of the charge sheet marks a major procedural step in an investigation that began with four sets of leaked papers recovered during a decoy operation in Bhiwandi and ultimately led police to the Agra printing press where the confidential examination material had been produced.
Further investigation remains open, and police have said a supplementary charge sheet will be filed as additional evidence is gathered.
Published – September 18, 2026 09:51 pm IST
