5 arrested in SSC paper leak

Mumbai: The police has arrested five persons in the case of an SSC (Class 10) paper leak from Bhiwandi in Thane district. Among the arrested accused are two private coaching class owners, while other two involved in the racket, are on the run, said a police officer.

“The Algebra, Geometry, Science I and II and History papers of March 11, 13, 15, 18 and 20 were leaked by the accused. Around a dozen students, including ten girls, who got the leaked papers on WhatsApp also being interrogated,” deputy commissioner of police (Bhiwandi), Ankit Goyal, told a news agency. The police will be writing about these students to the Pune-based Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education after the probe.

Those arrested have been identified as coaching class owners Shaikh Vazir Hafizur Rehman (39) and Ambar Malik Afroz Ansari (27), private tutors Mohammad Nabid Mohammad Ansari (27), Intekhab Nishad Patel (32) and Mubin Mohammad Faqui Mobbi (38), Mr Goyal said. The police is still looking for a teacher, Sajid Kharbe, and Azgar Ali Barot, the ow-ner of the coaching class.

The accused have been charged for cheating under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices Act University Board and Other Specified Examination Act, 1982.

The board conducts SSC (Class 10) and HSC (Class 12) exams in the state through its nine divisional units. The state board’s secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations began on March 1.

Earlier in March, question papers of three subjects of the State Board’s Class 10 examination were leaked in Thane district. A case was registered in this connection.

For the exam, which was to start at 11 am, students were expected to be in the exam hall by 10.15 am. However, outside an exam centre at Kalher in Bhiwandi, a board official found some girl students checking their mobile phones inside an auto-rickshaw. When the official checked their phones, he found History and Civics question papers.