SSC answer sheets were stolen from Mumbai school for a dose of drugs

The Dahisar police show the recovered SSC answer sheet bundles

The Dahisar police on Friday night found two bundles of SSC answer sheets, which had gone missing on April 3, in the national park jungle near Vaishali Nagar; one more bundle is yet to be found. According to police sources, the bundles found were of history and Sanskrit papers. The police have arrested four youths, including two minors, allegedly involved in stealing them from Isra Vidyalaya Hindi Medium School.

Two of the arrested accused in custody

All for a dose
Two of the arrested have been identified as Vikram Sharma (18) and Aaquib Shaikh (19). Sharma used to work in a BPO, and later, at an Airtel gallery in Borivli, while Shaikh was in his FYBCom at a Kandivli college. The other two are school students. They are all drugs addicts, who wanted to sell the papers and fund their habit. However, according to the police, the accused didn't know that they had stolen unchecked papers. When they realised that, they panicked and returned to the school to keep them back, but later, got scared of encountering the principal and left with the bundles. Later that night, they went to the national park and hid them.

Also read - SSC papers stolen from Mumbai school: Fate of students hangs in cops' hands

A valuable tip-off
On Friday, detection officer PSI Rakesh Pawar got a tip-off from an informant, which led to the bundles' recovery. The four allegedly confessed to the crime during interrogation.

DCP Kiran Kumar Chauhan said, "We have recovered two bundles, that had 330 answer sheets in all - history (149) and Sanskrit (181). Science answer sheets (150) are yet to be found."