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CM orders forensic audit of MHT-CET centres
Maharashtra government has ordered forensic audit of MHT-CET exam centres against which complaints have been received and police probe into allegations of irregularities in 2026 exam
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Pune: The Maharashtra government has ordered a forensic audit of Maharashtra Health and Technical Common Entrance Test (MHT-CET) examination centres against which complaints have been received and police investigation into allegations of irregularities in the 2026 entrance examination, including an alleged leak of candidate data.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis issued the directions late on Sunday after meeting a delegation of teachers and students from across the state, who raised concerns over the conduct of the exam and results.
Fadnavis directed that FIRs be registered on all complaints submitted by teachers and that the cases be investigated through the joint commissioner of police. The Mumbai police commissioner has been asked to initiate the process immediately.
The action comes amid allegations of suspicious patterns in the MHT-CET results. Teachers and students have questioned cases in which candidates with comparatively low Class 10 and Class 12 marks have reportedly secured exceptionally high CET percentiles.
The state CET cell had earlier said that differences between students’ school examination performance and entrance examination scores could have several explanations, including students focusing more heavily on competitive examinations. It had also said it would examine the data and centres involved.
The controversy widened with an allegation of a large-scale candidate data leak. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-based teacher Narayan Shingare alleged that data of 459,993 MHT-CET candidates was available for ₹10,000.
According to his complaint, the database contained details including candidates’ names, examination centres, examination groups, mobile numbers and email IDs. Shingare said he submitted the complaint to the CET Cell on September 1. The Cell had said it was internally verifying the allegation and would approach the police based on its findings.
Fadnavis has now directed that the alleged data leak be subjected to a separate forensic audit.
The investigation is likely to bring the private agencies involved in conducting the computer-based examination under scrutiny. EduSpark, which has been involved in CET examination-related work, is among the agencies whose tender, scope of work and access to examination and candidate data could be examined to establish how information moved through the exam system.
The investigation will also have to establish whether any examination centre or agency had unauthorised access to candidate information.
The CET Cell has maintained that allegations of a breach of its systems require verification. It had previously disputed claims that its systems were compromised and said the purported database needed to be checked against the original information available with the Cell.
“Strict action will be taken against everyone found guilty,” Fadnavis said.
