Maharashtra: Police arrests 5 people, including school principal, in connection with maths paper leak

Mumbai: The crime branch police have arrested five people in connection with the mathematics paper leak of the Maharashtra board’s Class 12 exams conducted on March 3, 2023.

The arrested accused include a school principal and two teachers, as per the Indian Express report.

The case registered against four people including 3 students in connection to class 12 Maths question paper leaked almost an hour before the commencement of the exam.

The class 12 Maths paper was held on March 3. The crime branch of the Mumbai Police began investigating the matter after a local student received the mathematics question paper before the exam, following which a case was registered in Dadar, Mumbai.

According to the police, a woman teacher at a school in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, was found to be behind the paper leak. She was among those responsible for collecting the question papers from the exam centre and taking them to the school.

"Before reaching the school (with question papers), the teacher, along with a driver, opened the packet and clicked pictures of the questions. The woman then sent the photos to some school officials and also to her younger sister, who sold the leaked paper at Rs 10,000 per piece to others," the police added.

After the leak came to light, the police began a probe and have now arrested five people from the Matoshri Bhagubai Bambare College in Ahmednagar. The accused have been identified as teachers Sachin Mahunur, Kiran Dighe, and Archana Bambare, and principal Bhausaheb Amrute. The driver named Vaibhav Taste has also been held. The police are currently scanning the WhatsApp chats and the Call Detail Record (CDR) of the five accused.

According to the media sources, an FIR was registered at Shivaji Park police station on March 4. The police said that the student was allegedly found using a mobile phone in the exam hall. It further stated that student had received portions of the maths paper on his WhatsApp chat at 10.17 Am, 43 minutes before the commencement of the exam. As per the schedule, class 12 paper was conducted in the morning shift from 11 am.