Bhubaneswar, July 30 (IANS) The Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Wednesday busted a racket involved in the leaking of question papers for the Special Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) – 2025 examination, conducted by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha, with the arrest of six persons including one of the employees of the board, said DGP (Crime Branch) Vinaytosh Mishra.

The exam which was scheduled to be held on July 20, 2025 was postponed by BSE, Odisha after the questions papers were leaked.

Based on a complaint lodged by the Bulbul Behera, OAS(SB) I/C- Establishment Officer, BSE on July 20, the Crime Branch formed a special team and launched an investigation into the matter after registering a case (6/2025) in this regard.

“On July 19, at about 10.45 p.m. the Vice President of BSE, Cuttack saw the hand written question papers with answers of SOTET-2025 which were the actual replica of question sets prepared by BSE, Cuttack went viral on Facebook and other social media platforms. Later, the Special OTET-2025 Examination was postponed,” added Mishra.

The accused persons arrested by the police were identified as Jitan Moharana, Bijay Kumar Mishra, Sanatan Bisoi, Ramjee Prasad Gupta, Ajay Sahoo and Jayant Rout. The Crime Branch DG revealed that Moharana, works as Data Entry Operator in the Office of BSE, Cuttack, is the kingpin of the racket who leaked the question paper.

Moharana unlawfully accessed the laptop of the Vice President of BSE and obtained the question papers prior to the examination and disseminated the papers to Working President of State Ex-Cadre Teacher Association, Bijaya Mishra and Sanatana Bisoi, President of Ex-Cadre Teachers Association of Koraput District.

The Crime Branch sources revealed that the accused persons enticed the gullible teachers who had failed in last Special OTET examination and sold out the papers through brokers Ramjee Prasad Gupta of Cuttack district, Ajay Sahoo of Ganjam district and Jayant Rout of Balasore district.

They collected money from some desperate teachers who wanted to qualify the examination to receive benefits like regularisation of the job, increment of pay. Preliminary investigation of the financial transactions reveals that the accused Moharana has received Rs 2,50,000 on his account through phone pay during the reported period.

The police also revealed that the racket has been operational in different districts and is selling question papers taking lakhs of rupees from the victims. The Crime Branch has seized electronic gadgets including mobile phones of the accused persons, leaked questions papers were seized.

–IANS

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