TET exams scam: IAS officer arrested
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Pune Police announces the arrest of an IAS officer in connection with the statewide Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) that was unearthed last year.
Sushil Khodwekar, the IAS officer accused of the TET irregularities, served as the Deputy Secretary of the Agriculture Department in Thane when the alleged irregularities were being committed.
The IAS official is part of the 2011 batch in the Maharashtra cadre and has been remanded to police custody till Monday, January 31, with more than 30 people arrested so far, both officials and private individuals.
Khodwekar is not the first person arrested by the Pune Police. Earlier, the police had arrested Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE) Commissioner Tukaram Supe, former MSCE Commissioner Sukhdeo Dere, education consultant Abhijit Sawrikar, and Director of G. A. Software Pritesh Deshmukh.
Police investigations have revealed that the scores of at least 7,880 candidates who appeared for the TET in 2018 and 2020 had allegedly been manipulated in order to maximize their monetary rewards.
It was discovered that the accused persons serving the company had access to the TET website, which was misused for the large-scale fraud, with Khodwekar, Savrikar and others allegedly working together.
Investigations have revealed that candidates have paid amounts ranging from Rs 35K to Rs 200K to improve their TET scores.
Over Rs 7 crore in assets have been seized in raids on officials, coaching classes, agents, and some candidates.
