Cuttack, March 5: The Orissa High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to eight accused in the Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) question paper leak case.

In August last year, the Crime Branch had arrested eight persons including Board of Secondary Education (BSE) Vice-President Nihar Ranjan Mohanty in the Special Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) question paper leak case. The other seven accused arrested were identified as BSE data entry operator Jitan Maharana, Ramji Prasad Gupta, Bijaya Kumar Mishra, Jayanta Kumar Rout, Ajay Kumar Sahu, Prasant Kumar Khamari, and Sanatan Bishoi.

While granting bail, the court imposed strict conditions on the accused. The court directed them to cooperate with the ongoing investigation and barred them from leaving the country without prior permission.

For the context, the OTET exam - scheduled for July 20, 2025, for in-service primary school teachers - was postponed just hours before it was to begin due to the circulation of identical handwritten and printed question papers on social media platforms.

According to the Crime Branch the principal accused, Jitan Moharana, a data entry operator at BSE, accessed the question paper from BSE Vice President Mohanty’s laptop - violating security protocol - and distributed it further.

Moharana reportedly received Rs 2.4–Rs 2.5 lakh through UPI transfers linked to the leak. The Call Details Record (CDR) revealed over 100 calls between Mohanty and Moharana outside office hours.

The Odisha Government had suspended BSE Vice-President Mohanty, following his arrest by the State Crime Branch in August last year for his involvement in the question paper leak.