The Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) has cancelled its Drug Inspector, Group-B recruitment exam after a leak investigation ended in six arrests, including three MPSC officials. The commission’s decision came on August 26, hours before Mumbai Crime Branch officers picked up the accused and produced them before a court, which remanded them to police custody until September 2.
How it unravelled
The exam, for the Food and Drug Administration cadre, was held on March 22 and results were declared in mid-2026. Complaints of malpractice surfaced between July 22 and 26, prompting MPSC to open a preliminary inquiry. Investigators found that questions prepared for the screening test had been obtained before the exam and used to assemble a separate paper, which then circulated among candidates.
Those arrested include Vishweshwar Nakate, an assistant section officer at MPSC; Abhijit Lendwe, an under secretary at MPSC; Gopal Marathe, also an assistant section officer; Pravin Patil, director of a coaching academy in Nandurbar; and two others. According to Nagpur Today, the leak reportedly surfaced after a personal dispute between two people connected to the ring, which led one of them to tip off investigators.
What it means for candidates
Every candidate who sat the March exam now has to prepare and reapply once MPSC schedules a fresh test, an outcome that punishes honest applicants for a scheme allegedly run from inside the commission itself. It also raises a harder question for the thousands of Maharashtra students who sit MPSC exams each year: whether commission insiders had a hand in this leak, and if so, what changes are coming to how question papers are secured before an exam. MPSC has not yet announced a revised timeline for the Drug Inspector recruitment.
This is not the state’s first exam-integrity scandal this year. Earlier in 2026, Maharashtra also saw a separate paper leak in the Teacher Eligibility Test that led to arrests in Kolhapur. Repeated leaks across different recruitment and eligibility exams add pressure on the state to tighten how it handles competitive exams that determine government jobs for hundreds of thousands of applicants.
What to watch
The Crime Branch investigation continues, and further arrests are possible as officers trace how the leaked questions moved from the commission to candidates. Also watch for MPSC’s announcement on when the Drug Inspector exam will be re-held, and whether the commission introduces new safeguards, such as restricted access to question papers, ahead of its other scheduled 2026 recruitment exams.
Sources: Free Press Journal, Nagpur Today
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.