Maharashtra Class 12 Board Exam: Two more Buldhana teachers arrested for 'leaking' Maths paper

Mumbai: The Buldhana Police on Sunday night arrested two more teachers from the district, alongwith five others nabbed on Saturday, for allegedly leaking parts of the Maths paper of the ongoing class 12 board exam 30 minutes before the test on Friday.

The two accused hail from Lonar Taluka in Buldhana. The five nabbed earlier also included two teachers, one from Sindkhed Raja and another from Lonar. On Sunday, they were produced in a court, which remanded them to police custody for 10 days.

The police said that they are probing if there are other people involved in the malpractice. "While one of the accused sent the leaked images to media persons, the others, including teachers, shared it on various WhatsApp groups. We are trying to find out from whom did the teachers get the images. We have interrogated a few more people," said Nandkishor Kale, Assistant Police Inspector, Sakharkherda Police Station.

A first information report (FIR) was registered under sections 5 and 6 of the Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices at University, Board and Other Specified Examinations Act, 1982 on Saturday  following a complaint of paper leak by Rangnath Gawde, Block Education Officer, Panchayat Samiti, Sindkhed Raja. The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) is also investigating the matter.

However, the board has said that there won't be any re-test of Maths paper as it didn't find the purported leak to be widespread. It also said that the students had entered their exam centres for the 11 am Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) paper before the images were out on social media at 10:30 am.

The alleged incident has occurred despite the stringent measures put in place by the state government to curb cheating and other malpractices during the first comprehensive board exams after Covid-19 pandemic that started on February 2. While last year, the candidates took the test at their own schools, this time they were allotted different exam centres, as is the norm. 

Last week, The Pune Zilla Parishad flying squad detected a case of mass copying at Jawahar Vidyalaya and junior college in Kedgaon, Daund. an FIR was against nine teachers at a Pune school who allegedly aided and abetted mass cheating in the physics exam.