Bhubaneswar: In a significant development in the Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) question paper leak case, the Vice-President of the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) Nihar Ranjan Mohanty, has been suspended following his arrest by the Crime Branch.
The suspension was ordered by the BSE President, Srikant Tarai, following Mohanty’s arrest on Sunday.
According to reports, the Crime Branch has initiated an investigation into Mohanty’s financial transactions and is planning to take him on remand. The agency has been probing the case since the question paper leak was reported, and Mohanty’s arrest is a significant breakthrough in the investigation.
On the other hand, officials have confirmed that the President of the BSE Srikant Tarai has already been interrogated four times in connection with the case.
The Crime Branch had earlier arrested seven persons, including Jitan Maharana and a government upper primary school teacher, Prasant Kumar Khamari. Khamari, a teacher at Bhejipadar in Bhawanipatna, allegedly enticed gullible candidates who had failed in the last Special OTET examination and sold them the papers to make easy money. It was found that he transferred Rs 99,000 through PhonePe to Bijay Kumar Mishra after collecting cash from the candidates.
