The exam was scheduled for 28 June, but the paper was leaked 24 hours before it was due to be held.
The Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) papers were smuggled out of a printing press in Agra hidden inside the soles of shoes. This has been revealed in Thane Police’s 3,500-page charge sheet. The accused were paid ₹8,000 in return for taking the papers out. They were also promised land plots in Agra.
Thane Police filed the charge sheet in the local court in Bhiwandi on Friday. Eighteen people, including mastermind Bijendra Gupta, have been named as accused. Gupta’s name had earlier surfaced in a paper leak case in Odisha. Sixteen accused have been arrested, while Ashok Saw and Prakash Misal are absconding.
The paper was leaked a day before the TET examination scheduled for 28 June. Following this, the Maharashtra State Examination Council (MSEC) postponed the examination.
The papers were leaked from Agra’s Mahim Patran Private Limited printing press
DCP Pawan Bansod received information that three people were trying to sell the examination papers to a man from Bhiwandi. The police then arrested the accused in the Kongao area. They recovered four sets of the papers from them. Officials of the Maharashtra State Council of Examination (MSCE) confirmed during the investigation that the papers were genuine.
According to the charge sheet, the papers were leaked from Agra’s Mahim Patran Private Limited printing press. Confidential papers for the TET examination were being printed at this press. Between 15 and 17 June, two press employees and a former employee folded the pages of the papers and hid them in the soles of shoes.
At the printing press, security guards searched the suspects’ clothes but did not check their shoes. The suspects took advantage of this and smuggled the papers out. Four separate sets of the two TET papers had been prepared to prevent cheating in the examination. One of these sets was to be used on the day of the examination. The suspects had taken all four sets out of the printing press.
What is the TET examination?
The Teacher Eligibility Test, or TET, is a national-level eligibility examination that determines whether a candidate is qualified to become a teacher for primary and upper-primary classes, from Class 1 to Class 8. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) made the examination mandatory in 2010. The Centre conducts Central TET, while states conduct State TET.
The NCTE gave candidates appointed to teaching posts five years to qualify the TET, which was later reduced to four years.
Candidates approached the court against the NCTE notice. In June 2025, a Madras High Court bench said that teachers appointed before 29 July 2011 would not be required to pass the TET to remain in service, but passing the TET would remain mandatory for promotion. The matter later reached the Supreme Court from different states.
2 September 2025: Supreme Court order – Teachers must pass the TET
The Supreme Court said on 2 September last year that teachers must pass the TET (Teacher Eligibility Test) to remain in service or receive a promotion. A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan said that all teachers with more than five years of service remaining would come under the rule.
The court extended the deadline for passing the TET from 31 August 2027 to 31 August 2028. Those who fail to pass the TET will have to either resign or take compulsory retirement. The court issued these directions while exercising its special powers under Article 142.
