Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Crime Branch has arrested one more person in the Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) question paper leak case, taking the total number of arrests to seven.

The latest to be arrested is Jitan Maharana, a teacher from Kalahandi district, who is suspected to be the mastermind of the leak.

According to reports, Maharana allegedly copied the OTET question paper onto a pen drive before leaking it. A financial trail has further strengthened suspicions about his role, with a suspicious transaction of ₹2.4 lakh detected in his bank account, suggesting he may have received money for facilitating the leak.

Among those previously arrested are Bijaya Kumar Mishra of Rayagada and Sanatan Bisoi of Koraput, both office-bearers of a teachers’ union. The duo allegedly identified candidates who had failed in earlier OTET exams and targeted them for the leaked papers, which were distributed through middlemen.

The middlemen involved include Ramaji Prasad Gupta, Ajay Kumar Sahu, and Jayanta Kumar Rout. The Crime Branch has uncovered that the paper leak racket had a wide network across several districts in Odisha, with illegal transactions running into lakhs of rupees.

The investigation is ongoing.