HSC Paper Leak: After Marathi, Secretarial Practice and Physics papers leaked
Representational Image. Courtesy: resultuniraj.co.in
Two days after the standard 12th Marathi question-paper leaked, the Maharashtra HSC board officials found that the Secretarial Practise (SP) and Physics paper too began to circulate on social media minutes before the exam.
Like the Marathi paper, the question papers were also reportedly received by a private coaching class professor and shared on group of HSC aspirants, indicating their widespread reach.
Police have identified the WhatsApp group where the Secretarial Practise paper leak originated, said the Navi Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale.
The examinations of standard 12th, conducted by Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (commonly called SSC and HSC Board), are being held at present.
Both SP and Physics papers were scheduled from 11 am to 2 pm on Saturday.
While the photographs of the SP question-paper began to circulate on WhatsApp from 10.46 am, the Physics paper came to the notice of board officials around 11 am.
Over 1.3 lakh students appeared for the Secretarial Practice exam in Mumbai and over 2.6 lakh across Maharashtra. Similarly, over 9,4,000 appeared for the Physics paper in Mumbai and close to 4.5 lakh sat for it across the state.
The question-paper of Marathi had leaked in the same way on Friday, although the board had earlier denied the leak.
Later, Dattatray Jagtap, chairman of Konkan division of the Board, filed a complaint with Vashi police in the neighbouring Navi Mumbai.
Inspector Chetan Kakde of Vashi police said that Navi Mumbai Crime Branch and Cyber Crime Cell were also taking part in the probe.
“We have identified the WhatsApp group (where the leaked paper was shared first) and its members,” said Navi Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale.
The members of the group seemed to be based in Mumbai, police sources said.
The question papers are distributed 10 minutes before the exam is scheduled to start and students can enter the exam hall 30 minutes before it starts till 30 minutes after it has began. They can only leave the exam hall 30 minutes after the exam has started.
Jagtap told PTI that students were admitted inside the exam halls at 10.20 am, while the photographs of the question-paper began to circulate after 10.46 am, so “it can’t be called a leak”.
He also told a leading daily that since the images only surfaced minutes before the exam, it is difficult to know whether they were circulated by students or officials conducting the exams.
Meanwhile, Jagtap has urged students not to panic and assured that no re-examination of Marathi, Secretarial Practise and Physics papers would be held.
The Book Keeping and Accountancy paper had also reportedly leaked before the exam last year.
