In a disturbing development, the sleuths of the Pune Cyber police have arrested IAS officer Sushil Khodwekar for alleged involvement in sensational State-wide Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) scam unearthed last year.

Khodwekar’s arrest comes on the heels of the arrest of Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE) Commissioner Tukaram Supe, former MSCE Commissioner Sukhdeo Dere, education consultant Abhijit Sawrikar and Director Pritesh Deshmukh, Director and former director of G. A. Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, a firm which had been awarded the contract for the TET and other government exams. The investigators have seized assets worth over Rs 7 crore allegedly amassed by the accused in an illegal manner.

A team of the cyber police team arrested Khodwekar from Thane and produced him before a Pune court which remanded him in police custody till January 31.

With Khodwekar’s arrest, the total number of arrests made in the scam has gone up to 36. The arrested persons comprised both the government official, private persons and middlemen involved in the TET scam.

Khodwekar is currently the Deputy Secretary in the State Agriculture Department. He had earlier held charge as deputy secretary of the School Education and Sports Department.

The investigations by the Pune police have revealed that those behind the scam had tampered the evaluation process to increase the marks of as many as 7,880 candidates in the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) held in 2018 and 2020.

The investigations have also revealed that the accused persons working with M/s GA Software Technologies Pvt Ltd had access to the TET website which they allegedly misused for malpractices.