Pune: Amid the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) question paper leak, several students and political outfits held protests in the city on Monday demanding strict action against those responsible.Students’ organisations hold protests in Pune over TET paper leakThe state government cancelled the TET examination, scheduled for June 28 across 1,028 centres for nearly six lakh candidates, following the question paper leak in Thane before the examination.The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Pune district committee, condemned the cancellation of the examination and held the state government and the education department responsible for repeated failures in conducting recruitment examinations.“We demand the resignation of the education minister and the Maharashtra State Council of Examination (MSCE) chairman Nandakumar Bedse, a high-level probe into the leak, transparent arrangements for the re-examination, free transport for candidates appearing for the rescheduled test, and stronger safeguards to prevent future paper leaks,” they said.The Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) activists entered Bedse’s office at the MSCE headquarters. The protesters removed the chairman’s chair from his office, carried it out of the sixth-floor premises and placed an earthen pot on it as a symbolic protest against what they described as the government’s failure to protect students’ futures. They also blackened the signboard outside the examination council’s office.MNVS Pune city president Dhananjay Dalvi alleged that the paper leak was not an isolated incident but part of a larger nexus involving middlemen and officials.“Today we have brought down the chairman’s chair. If necessary, we will shut down the examination council’s office and bring its functioning to a halt. Our agitation will intensify until the main accused are arrested and the education minister resigns,” Dalvi said.The Maharashtra Youth Congress also organised a protest march to the MSCE office.Youth Congress state president Shivraj More said the state’s examination system had become synonymous with corruption. “The TET paper leak is not merely the failure of one examination but a symbol of the collapse of the entire examination system. Those responsible must be arrested immediately and given stringent punishment. Otherwise, we will intensify its agitation across Maharashtra,” he said.Ajay Chhikara, Maharashtra Youth Congress in-charge, alleged that repeated paper leaks, examination cancellations and recruitment irregularities were ruining the future of lakhs of aspirants. “We demand a time-bound and impartial investigation, criminal action against everyone involved in the racket, and the introduction of a transparent examination mechanism.”Three people have been arrested in the case so far. The arrested accused were identified as Akash Kumar, 30, and Rajiv Shah, 45, both residents of Patna in Bihar, and Dhiraj Kumar, 28, from Panipat in Haryana.