Pune city police have arrested an IAS officer for his alleged involvement in malpractices in the statewide Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).
Cops said Sushil Khodwekar is currently the Deputy Secretary in the state’s Agriculture Department. He had earlier held charge as deputy secretary of the School Education and Sports Department. A cyber police team arrested Khodwekar from Thane and produced him before a court in Pune on Saturday.
Investigation by the Pune city police has revealed that marks scored by as many as 7,880 candidates in the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) held in 2018 and 2020 had been increased by tampering with the evaluation process. The police will submit a list of these candidates to the state government for further action.
The probe is connected with investigations into a slew of malpractices in various state government exams. Starting with the paper leak in the recruitment process of Group D employees in the Health Department in November last year, the cyber cell of Pune city police further unearthed a question paper leak in the recruitment to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), malpractices in the TETs held in 2018 and 2020, and a paper leak in the Group C recruitment process of the Health Department.
The investigations have so far led to 36 arrests, including that of senior government officials, middlemen, private entities contracted for recruitment processes, coaching class owners and candidates. Assets worth over Rs 7 crore, allegedly amassed by the accused in an illegal manner, have also been seized.
Among those arrested for malpractices in the statewide TET include Maharashtra State Council of Examination (MSCE) Commissioner Tukaram Supe, Consultant to the Department of Education Abhijit Savrikar, former MSCE commissioner Sukhdeo Dere, and Ashwinkumar Shivkumar, former director of GA Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, which was given the contract by the state government to conduct recruitment exams for various posts.
The accused persons working with this company had access to the TET website which they misused for malpractices, the police said. They added that Khodwekar was allegedly associated with the accused Savrikar. The police said amounts ranging between Rs 35,000 to a couple of lakhs were allegedly taken from candidates to increase their TET marks. Cops pointed out that further investigation is on and more arrests may take place in the scam.