Mumbai: Maharashtra BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar on Wednesday claimed that state School Education Minister Dada Bhuse privately told him he was not aware that the examination papers of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which was postponed after alleged paper leak, were printed in Agra.

He said the minister's admission exposed serious lapses in the functioning of the school education department.

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Bhuse, who belongs to the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was not available for a comment on the issue.

The TET 2026 in Maharashtra was postponed on Saturday, a day before it was to be held, after police in Thane district found that a part of its question paper had been leaked.

With the development affecting six lakh candidates, Opposition leaders trained their guns on the BJP-led government, saying it was busy breaking political parties instead of ensuring foolproof examinations.

Bhiwandi Police in Thane district have so far arrested four persons, originally from Bihar and Haryana, including the wife of one of the absconding accused. An SIT is investigating the case as the prima facie investigation pointed to the involvement of an inter-state racket.

Speaking to reporters on the premises of the Vidhan Bhavan, where the state legislature session is currently underway, Mungantiwar said, "The school education minister privately admitted that his department never informed him that the (TET) examination papers were getting printed in Agra. Agra has a historic connection with Maharashtra as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj escaped from there, but now the sin of an examination paper leak has also taken place there." "The minister now says the examinations will be conducted online and the question papers will be prepared here," the BJP legislator said.

Bhuse's admission exposed serious lapses in the functioning of the school education department, the former minister said, and underscored the need for a comprehensive review of all state-level examinations.

He said he had urged the minister to conduct a thorough audit of every examination organised by the state government to ensure they were conducted fairly and peacefully and to establish a foolproof mechanism to prevent such incidents in future.

During a discussion in the legislature over the alleged TET paper leak on Monday, Mungantiwar had questioned the state government over the TET paper leak.

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The controversy has assumed significance as it comes amid political attacks over examination paper leaks, with the BJP-led Union government also facing criticism over the NEET-UG examination paper leak. Opposition parties have been demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the issue.