Bhubaneswar: Odisha Crime Branch (CB) has nabbed another suspect in the Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) question paper leak case, bringing the total arrests to seven.
The latest arrestee, Prasant Kumar Khamari (56), was working at government UP School, Bhejipadar, Bhawanipatna. The handwritten question papers of Special OTET Paper, which were viral on different social media platforms, were prepared by him, according to a CB release.
The OTET for in-service primary and upper primary school teachers across the state was abruptly postponed just hours before the scheduled examination on July 20 after images of handwritten question papers began circulating on social media the previous evening.
“Khamari hatched a criminal conspiracy with Bijay Kumar Mishra, working president of state teachers association (ex-cadre), Sanatan Bisoi, president of state teachers association (ex-cadre) in Koraput district, and others, obtained the question paper from data entry operator Jitan Moharana of Board of Secondary Education, Cuttack, and wrote the computerized question papers in his own handwriting to screen the actual leaked paper,” it said.
Besides, he targeted teachers, who had failed in the last Special OTET examination, and sold the papers to them to make easy money. “He transferred RS 99,000 through phone pay to the principal accused Bijay Ku Mishra after collecting hard cash from the gullible teachers. His banks accounts are under verification,” it added.
The Crime Branch also seized Khamari’s mobile phone and obtained his handwriting samples, which will be sent to the Handwriting Bureau and Cyber Forensics Lab for analysis. He was arrested on July 31 and produced before the JMFC-III Court in Cuttack.
Earlier, six other accused, including both office-bearers of a teachers’ union, were arrested and forwarded to the court of JMFC-III, Cuttack.
Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, Vice-President Nihar Mohanty will also be brought under the purview of investigation, said Crime Branch DIG Prakash R.
The data entry operator had downloaded the question paper from the laptop of the BSE vice president before leaking it to others.
