Maharashtra: Five held in HSC question paper leak in Ahmednagar

Those arrested include a driver for the college. Representation pic

The Mumbai crime branch has found that the origin of the HSC math question paper leak was in Ahmednagar. The Mumbai crime branch arrested five accused including a college principal, two teachers, a member of the college administration, and a driver on Wednesday in the case in Ahmednagar. The police found that the accused got the paper hours before the exam and sold it for Rs 10,000 each.

According to sources, after detaining two minor students, the Mumbai Crime Branch found that the origins of the paper leak were in Ahmednagar, and a team was sent there. The officials found that the math paper was leaked on March 3 at the Matoshri Bhagubai Bambare Agriculture and Science College, and circulated to hundreds of students. "We took the statements of many students who received the question paper on their WhatsApp and made payments to some numbers, which we tracked," an officer said.

The officers then arrested the principal of the college, identified as Bhau Saheb Amrute, 54, and two teachers identified as Kiran Dighe, 28, and Sachin Mahanur, 23. The team from the crime branch later arrested a member of the college administration, identified as Archana Bhamre, 23, and a driver for the college.

Also Read: Maharashtra: Minor detained in Nagar in HSC paper leak case

What the accused did

The officers found that the college got the paper hours before the examination, on the pretext that their institution was almost 20 kilometres from the board centres from where they used to collect the papers. The school teachers, the admin member, and the driver brought the paper at least two hours before the exam.

"The accused opened the seal while inside their car, and took pictures. Then they contacted the parents of students appearing for the exams and sent the papers to them on WhatsApp, provided they had paid Rs 10,000. After the paper was shared on WhatsApp it was deleted once the parents had saved it," an officer said.

Dadar school alerted cops

The accused were arrested in Ahmednagar and are being brought to Mumbai, where they will be produced in court today for further interrogations. The crime branch suspects that at least 100 parents have purchased the paper from the accused by paying Rs 10,000 for each paper.

The case came to light after a private school in Dadar on March 3 approached Shivaji Park police, claiming they had found a mobile phone with one of the students who had appeared for the exams, with the math paper on it on WhatsApp.

Rs 10k
What parents allegedly paid for the math question paper