Patna: The alleged mastermind behind the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) paper leak, Bijendra Kumar Gupta, was arrested by Bhiwandi Police from Patna on Friday after he was absconding for nearly a month. Following his arrest, he was taken to Bhiwandi via Pune for further interrogation.According to a police officer, he was arrested from Raja Bazaar here under the Airport police station area. Bijendra had been living under a false identity to evade arrest. Acting on specific intelligence, the police tracked down Gupta and arrested him along with his associate, Indrajeet Singh alias Piku.After securing transit remand, the Maharashtra Police brought him to Bhiwandi in Thane district on Saturday, where he will face legal proceedings in connection with the paper leak case.
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A day earlier, the team had conducted raids in Bijendra’s native place in Sherpur village, under Vidyapatinagar police station area, Samastipur.The Maharashtra TET examination, conducted for teacher recruitment in the state, allegedly witnessed a major breach after the question paper was leaked before the exam, prompting a multi-state investigation.Bijendra’s arrest comes days after Maharashtra’s Thane Police, with assistance from the Bihar STF, arrested his wife, Suman Gupta, from a rented flat in Gandhi Nagar under Patna’s Agamkuan police station area on June 29. She was later taken to Maharashtra on transit remand. Investigators allege that Suman was aware of her husband’s activities, and she provided financial assistance to the racket and remained in constant touch with him while he was absconding.With Bijendra’s arrest, 12 people have been arrested so far in the case. Earlier, on June 27, Rajiv Shah of Patna, Akash Kumar and Dheeraj Singh of Haryana were arrested from Bhiwandi.According to investigators, Bijendra had been planning the paper leak for months. Several secret meetings were allegedly held at co-accused Rajiv’s apartment on Boring Canal Road in Patna to execute the conspiracy. Police claim Bijendra procured all four sets of the Maharashtra TET question papers from a printing press in Agra through two employees, both residents of Uttar Pradesh.The probe revealed that the accused travelled from Delhi to Agra to collect the question papers before transporting them to Maharashtra. Police admitted that there was a lapse in security from the private printing press in Agra.Investigators describe Bijendra as an interstate examination mafia who has allegedly been active for nearly 25 years. He is also accused in the 2023 Odisha JEE paper leak case, in which his brother-in-law was arrested from Samastipur in 2025.Cases have reportedly been registered against Bijendra in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Bihar Police had also declared him absconding in an earlier case.
