THANE: The Thane police Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday arrested three accused in connection with the Maharashtra TET-2026 examination paper leak—one of the main absconding accused, Kapil Dahia, 30, from Punjab, and Mithun Singh (34) and Sonu Singh (33) from Bihar. The trio was flown to Mumbai, produced before the Bhiwandi court, and remanded to police custody till July 9.On June 27, three accused were arrested from the outskirts of Bhiwandi with copies of the TET 2026 question paper. (HT Photo)The police seized TET question papers, a printer, and other equipment from Dahia. Copies of TET question papers in Hindi, Marathi, and English were also recovered from Sonu Singh’s computer. All these have been sent to the education department to verify whether these were the question papers that were leaked.The police, who seized three hard disks, also recovered fake PAN, Aadhaar, and driving license documents in the name of Abhishek Mahto bearing the photograph of paper leak mastermind Bijender Gupta. Sonu and Mithun had helped Gupta escape from Samastipur in their car.Pawan Bansod, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 2, told HT, “We arrested Sonu and Mithun who were part of the racket and were assisting the mastermind Bijender Gupta. We also arrested Dahia, who had escaped after his accomplices were arrested in Bhiwandi on Saturday. Further investigation will be done in custody.”Public prosecutor Sunit Jadhav told HT, “Sonu and Mithun were arrested from their village, Sherupur, in Samastipur, Bihar. They had fake Aadhaar cards, driving licences, and other documents on the basis of which Bijender purchased SIM cards and escaped.” Jadhav added that the police had sought the duo’s custody to further investigate their roles in the racket and determine where and when they dropped off Bijender after he escaped.Narendra Gupta, counsel for Dahia, claimed that Dahia had come to Mumbai for a vacation, not to sell any question papers, but had been arrested by the police in connection with the alleged paper leak case.According to the police, Dahia fled the state after learning that accused Aakash Kumar and Rajiv Shah had been arrested in Patna while Dheeraj Singh was arrested in Bhiwandi after allegedly coming there to sell the TET question papers on Saturday.On Monday, the SIT arrested Bijender Gupta’s wife Suman Kumari from Patna. Suman has been booked on charges of providing financial assistance, managing Gupta’s finances, maintaining regular contact with him since the paper leak, and failing to inform the police despite allegedly knowing about his crimes.As of now, the SIT has sent six teams to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and Haryana to trace more people involved in the racket. The police are also investigating the role of the printing press, as they suspect the papers may have been leaked either from the press or during transit.State plans to shift TET exam to IBPS after paper leakMumbai: A day after state school education minister Dada Bhuse announced in the assembly that the Maharashtra TET exam would be conducted online, the State Examination Council (SEC) sent a letter to the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) asking it to conduct the exam henceforth. The SEC believes that making the test a completely online one will make it more secure.The letter from the SEC documents that it approached IBPS after the paper leak in Bhiwandi which had forced the cancellation of the TET test. The SEC also mentions a Supreme Court order from September 1, 2025, which says that all teachers, old and new, must pass the Maharashtra TET exam by 2028. With many teachers thus likely to take the test in the coming years, the SEC wants to conduct the Maharashtra TET exam at least twice a year.