The Maharashtra government last week approved the appointment of a Special Public Prosecutor in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) paper leak case that led to the exam originally meant for June 28 being postponed. According to an official, considering the gravity of the case, the government approved the proposal put forth by the Thane Police.

The official further said that this case will be tried by a Bhiwandi court, which is designated as a special fast-track trial court to carry out trials in exam leak cases. PM Narendra Modi had announced that special fast-track courts would be set up to try examination malpractice cases in the wake of the NEET paper leak controversy and the nationwide student protests that followed.

A senior officer from Thane Police told , “We had sought government permission from the Maharashtra government to appoint a special public prosecutor in the case, given the sensitive nature of the case. The same was approved by the government, and Ajay Misar has been appointed as the Special PP in the case.”

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When it comes to sensitive or complex cases, the government designates a specific, experienced outside lawyer to handle a particular criminal case instead of using the regular panel of public prosecutors available for other cases being tried in the same court.

An officer said the police are also likely to file a chargesheet in the next 10 days against the 16 accused, naming Bijendra Gupta as the mastermind. According to the officer, while they have a 90-day period to file a chargesheet in the case which extends to September last week, they will likely file a chargesheet under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices at

University, Board and other Specified Examinations Act, in the next 10 – 12 days.

“Our probe has found that Bijendra Gupta was the mastermind and we have technical evidence like calls exchanged between the accused, CCTV footage along with seizures made from the residence of the accused including fake documents to prove the crime,” the officer said.

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While we have arrested 16 persons, with the latest accused being a coaching class teacher from Solapur on August 11, two persons will be named as wanted accused in the case. The arrested accused are currently in judicial custody, the officer added.

The leak came to light two days before the examination when the Thane City police received a tip-off from a person in Bhiwandi who claimed he had been approached by three people with a copy of the TET question paper. A raid was carried out, and it turned out that the accused actually had the question papers meant to be used for the TET examination.

Eventually, the police traced the paper leak to an Agra-based printing press, Mahim Patran Pvt Ltd, where two current employees and a former employee are alleged to have hidden the question paper beneath their shoe insoles and walked out of the press. They had allegedly been cultivated by the main accused for just Rs 8,000.