Three persons, including two teachers of a private school, were arrested early on Sunday for allegedly leaking the question paper for the Class 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) economics examination.
The accused have been identified as Tauqeer Ahmed Hasan, 26, who runs a coaching centre at Bawana, Rishabh Antil, 26, and Rohit Vats, 26, teachers of mathematics and physics respectively at Bawana’s Mother Khazani Convent School, the police said.
Sealed packet opened
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Alok Kumar said Mr. Antil and Mr. Vats had opened the sealed packet containing the question paper about an hour before the scheduled time, clicked pictures of the paper and sent them to Tauqeer who shared them with his students. Following the arrests, the CBSE suspended an official found “lax” in supervising an examination centre 0859 (Bawana) and instituted a formal inquiry into the leaks.
“Further inquiry into involvement of others including school staffers is under way. Inquiry into the leak of Class X Mathematics examination is also on,” JCP Kumar said.
A member of the Special Investigating Team set up to probe the case, said they had received a complaint from the CBSE alleging that on the evening of March 26, the Board had received an unaddressed envelope containing four sheets of answers to the questions of Class 12 Economics examination held earlier that day and it was indicated that the paper was leaked through WhatsApp; a few telephone numbers were also mentioned in the complaint.
The officer said the numbers led them to a 17-year-old student who alleged that he had received the paper from “Tauqeer Sir”.
On Thursday, Tauqeer was brought in for questioning where he denied any involvement but examination of his phone established he had shared the paper. He was called in again on Friday, when he allegedly told investigators that Mr. Antil and Mr. Vats had shared the paper with him, leading to their arrest.
On whether students who received the question papers are under the scanner, a senior police officer said a crackdown on students who were beneficiaries is unlikely. “The question paper was shared on WhatsApp. For instance, one student shared with five others and the chain went on. Therefore, it’s unlikely that any student would be arrested but a decision is yet to be made,” he said.
CBSE official suspended
Following the arrests, School Education Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted, “On the direction of the HRD Minister @PrakashJavdekar to take swift action against culprits, the Board has suspended K S Rana, the official found lax in supervising examination centre (0859) Bawana with immediate effect. A formal inquiry has been instituted.”
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