Accused used Telegram’s ‘file manipulation technique’ to fake SSC question paper leak

The police initially contacted the accused’s father through whom, the accused was traced and detained. During interrogation, the accused disclosed the modus operandi used to mislead students.

PUNE: The Pune city police have revealed that the accused in the alleged Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or class 10 examination paper leak case used a technical feature on the messaging platform, Telegram, to falsely claim that he had access to the question paper before the exam.

The police initially contacted the accused’s father through whom, the accused was traced and detained. During interrogation, the accused disclosed the modus operandi used to mislead students (HT)

The accused, identified as Chaitanya Vinod Shende, 18, was detained from Chandrapur on Friday and brought to Pune for further interrogation. The police initially contacted the accused’s father through whom, the accused was traced and detained. During interrogation, the accused disclosed the modus operandi used to mislead students.

Krushikesh Rawale, deputy commissioner of police (zone 1), said, “During interrogation of the accused, it was revealed that the accused exploited Telegram’s ‘file manipulation technique’ feature which allows a previously uploaded PDF file to be replaced with another file while keeping the original upload timestamp unchanged. When such a change is made, only the content of the file changes while the time of the upload remains the same with an ‘edited’ remark appearing on the message.”

According to the police, the accused first uploaded a password-protected PDF file to the Telegram group before the scheduled examination. He then posted messages in the group claiming he could provide the examination paper for ₹600. After receiving payments from students, he immediately blocked them. Once the actual examination was over, he obtained the real question paper and replaced the previously uploaded password-protected file with the actual paper.

The class 10 mathematics part 1 and part 2 question papers of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) were allegedly leaked on a Telegram group before the exams, prompting the authorities to lodge a police complaint and initiate an investigation, officials said on Wednesday. According to board officials, the question papers were circulated on a Telegram group ahead of the scheduled exams, raising concerns over confidentiality of the ongoing board examinations. Officials said that the mathematics part 1 paper, scheduled for March 6, was uploaded on the Telegram group at around 8.37 pm on March 5 whereas the mathematics part 2 paper, scheduled for March 9, was circulated on the same Telegram group on March 6, nearly three days before the exam. The suspected leak came to light on March 9 after officials from the Pune divisional board received information about a suspicious Telegram link circulating on social media. Upon checking the same, the authorities found images of the mathematics question papers shared prior to the examination.

Girish Dighavkar, senior police inspector, Shivajinagar police station, said, “The accused is a first-year student of a nursing college and claimed that he was duped by someone last year when he was in class 12 in the same manner. Subsequently, he decided to use the same trick to earn money.”

According to the police, prima facie, the accused received over ₹10,000 to ₹12,000 by using this method. The police are now investigating whether he used this method during the mathematics paper or any other subject/s during the SSC exams.