The Odisha crime branch on Sunday arrested the vice-president of the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Nihar Ranjan Mohanty, in connection with the leak of question papers for the Special Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET)-2025.

Mohanty's arrest has triggered outrage across the state and revealed serious lapses within the state’s education system. He was responsible for conducting the examination across Odisha.

The OTET is held to assess the eligibility of candidates for teaching positions in primary and upper primary schools. It determines whether candidates are qualified to teach Classes I to V (Paper I) and VI to VIII (Paper II). Nearly 75,000 in-service teachers were scheduled to appear for the exam.

At a press conference in Cuttack, crime branch director General Vinaytosh Mishra said: “We have firm evidence about Mohanty’s involvement in the question paper leak. The paper was leaked from his personal laptop, and he did it deliberately. We arrested him after intense interrogation.”

The crime branch had earlier arrested seven others, including teachers and a BSE data operator. The question paper was leaked a day ahead of the July 20 examination. The BSE, headquartered in Cuttack, is the body responsible for holding the test.

Mishra said Mohanty was responsible for setting the question paper. After receiving the password from the printing press, he downloaded the file for proofreading but failed to delete it as per protocol. He then gave access to his laptop to Jitan Maharana, who had no official role. “This proves a clear intent to leak the paper,” said Mishra.

Over 100 calls were exchanged between Mohanty and Maharana in the past three months. “During interrogation, Jitan confessed,” Mishra said, adding that financial transactions between the two were also under the scanner.

Eight people have been arrested so far. The exam was rescheduled for August 31. However, Mohanty’s arrest has cast fresh doubts over its conduct.