BSE vice-president arrested over OTET-2025 question paper leak

Cuttack: The police on Sunday arrested the vice-president of the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) for his alleged involvement in the paper leak of special Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET)-2025, a senior officer said.

The examination was scheduled for July 20, but the BSE had to defer it after a handwritten version of the question paper, complete with answers, surfaced on social media a day before the test.

"During the investigation, clear-cut negligence of BSE vice president Nihar Mohanty was found. He was having a suspicious relation with prime accused Jitan Moharana, who was working as a data entry operator at the office of the BSE," said Vinaytosh Mishra, Director General of Police (Crime Branch).

So far, eight individuals, including Mohanty and Moharana, have been taken into custody in connection with the leak, Mishra confirmed.

Police investigations revealed that Jitan Moharana initially shared the handwritten question paper with two other accused before it went viral online.

When the crime branch started investigating how Moharana was able to get access to the question paper, as he didn't have the authority, it was found that the vice-president was coordinating with a Bhopal-based agency for printing of the question paper, Mishra told reporters here.

As per protocol, Mohanty only had access to the question paper using an ID and password. He was supposed to proofread the question paper, make necessary corrections and then delete it from the computer, he said.

"However, we found that he has not deleted the question paper from his laptop and gave its access to the data entry operator Jitan Moharana even though he has no business with dealing with the question set," the DGP (Crime Branch) said.

While examining the call records, the crime branch found that Mohanty had telephonic conversation with Jitan Moharana for more than 100 times beyond the official hours during the past three months, he added.

The DGP (Crime Branch) said Moharana had no role in the conduct of the examination. Still, the vice president had deliberately given him laptop access, which helped him leak the question paper. So, both have an equal role in the question leak case.

The police will now start a financial investigation into the question paper leak case, he said, adding, "We are also trying to find out whether any other person was involved in the case or not."

PTI