Students, college staff among 10 arrested in connection with BMS paper leak
The college technician downloaded the question papers and leaked it to students (Representational Image)
Amboli police on Friday arrested ten people in connection with leaking the University of Mumbai’s third year Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) exam paper, a day after a student was caught with a copy during exam.
The leak came to light on Thursday, when a purported image of the ‘E Commerce and Digital Marketing’ paper was circulated on messaging app WhatsApp more than an hour before exam.
The exam paper of the 5th semester of third year BMS course was found on a student’s phone in MVM College of Commerce & Science in Andheri (W).
The paper was found between 9.45 am and 10 am yesterday, ahead of the exam scheduled at 11.00 am.
Suspecting a leak, college authorities immediately alerted the University, who directed them to file a police complaint. After the college complied, an offence was registered against unidentified persons at the Amboli Police Station.
A preliminary inquiry found the paper was leaked prior to the exam and its screenshots were circulated on WhatsApp.
After following a trail of WhatsApp messages, police nabbed one person. His interrogation led them to a Kandivali college technician, who had the responsibility to take print outs of exam papers received online from the university.
The university sends papers to exam centres online through its Digital Exam Paper Delivery System (DEPDS), which was introduced in 2013 in the wake of several paper leak incidents.
All the colleges receive a password to download the question papers from the university portal at least 1.5 hours before the exams start. The papers are then printed by the colleges and distributed among the students.
Questioning of the duo helped the police to unearth a racket involved in leaking out question papers and selling them to students.
After getting information from them, API Daya Nayak and his team arrested eight other persons who were part of the racket, including a college technician, students and Mumbai University staffer.
The accused have been booked under under sections 5, 6 and 8 of Prevention of Malpractices in Maharashtra University Board & Other Examinations Act, 1982 and under section 66(d) of the Information Technology Act.
Kalpesh Bagul, the college technician who reportedly downloaded the question papers and leaked it to students, has been named the main accused in the case. He would allegedly sell the leaked copy of the paper to students for around Rs 2,500.
Cops have also seized nine mobile phones, computers and printers used in connection with the leak.
Meanwhile, the University of Mumbai has stated that there will be no re-examination of the paper and formed a committee to look into the issue.
