Five arrested, probe reveals they leaked other papers too

Slug: HSC MATHS PAPER LEAKMUMBAI: The crime branch has arrested five people associated with a junior college in Ahmednagar, including its principal, two teachers, the college owner’s daughter and a driver, in connection with the HSC mathematics exam paper leak

Slug: HSC MATHS PAPER LEAK

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MUMBAI: The crime branch has arrested five people associated with a junior college in Ahmednagar, including its principal, two teachers, the college owner’s daughter and a driver, in connection with the HSC mathematics exam paper leak. The initial police probe has revealed that the arrested gang similarly leaked all prior HSC question papers at the exam centre.

The arrested accused are identified as Bhausaheb Amrute, 54, the principal of Matoshree Bhagubai Bhambare Agriculture and Science Junior College, Kiran Dighe, 28, a teacher at the junior college, Sachin Mahanor, 23, a physical training teacher, the college owner’s daughter Archana Bhambare, 23, and driver Vaibhav Tarte. They will be brought to Mumbai on Wednesday night and produced before a court on Thursday. “It appears that the accused have leaked all the other question papers of exams held before March 3,” said a crime branch officer.

An FIR was registered at Shivaji Park police station on March 4 after a Class 12 student was caught copying in the maths paper at an examination centre in Dadar. He was allegedly found using a mobile handset for copying, and after he was grilled, he revealed that he had received portions of the maths paper on his WhatsApp at 10.17 am, 43 minutes before the scheduled exam time.

The case was immediately transferred to Unit 5 of the crime branch for investigation. The initial probe revealed that the student had received portions of the question paper from a distant relative in Ahmednagar district. The chain led the police to a teacher (Dighe), who had shared the question paper with her sister.

“We have recorded the statements of many students, including Dighe’s sister, but as they are minors, they have not been arrested. Based on their statements, the five accused were arrested,” said a police official who is part of the investigating team.

After interrogating the students, the police learnt that all the five accused had visited the board office – around 20 km away from their college – from where the question papers sets are distributed to the examination centres, and soon after collecting the mathematics paper sets, opened the sealed bunches, said the police officer.

Kiran Dighe clicked pictures on her mobile phone around 9.30 am and sent them to her 17-year-old sister, instructing her to send them to other students from whom she had taken ₹10,000 each, said the police officer.

Questioning of the accused revealed that half the students at the college had the same examination centre, and, the teachers, for “better results”, had promised to provide their students with solved papers. “They perhaps thought of attracting more students to their college by securing better results for their students,” said the police official.