SSC paper leak: 60 percent Bhiwandi schools flouted board norms

Board mandates opening of sealed question paper envelopes by its custodian in front of two students, two teachers and possibly a police officer

SSC paper leak: 60 percent Bhiwandi schools flouted board norms

Amber Ansari allegedly clicked pictures of the question papers in his car

Investigation into the paper leak case has led the Bhiwandi police to suspect that around 60 per cent of the schools there did not follow the SSC board norms while breaking open the sealed question paper envelopes.

According to board rules, it is mandatory to obtain a signature of the custodian of every centre, along with the witnesses, while breaking the seal open. The Bhiwandi police have thus asked the two main board centres in Bhiwandi - Padmashree Annasaheb Jadhav School and Konkan Muslim Education Society School - from where other centres receive the papers to submit details of this norm being followed.

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Accused Amber Ansari (below) was appointed as the question paper custodian for Kakatiya School

The arrested accused, Amber Ansari, had allegedly procured question papers from the Padmashree Jadhav School. Every board centre/school head assigns a custodian for the question papers. In the Kakatiya School matter, Amber Ansari was the custodian, informed Vaishali Dongare, the board-appointed centre head at the Padmashree Jadhav School.

Amber Ansari

"Whenever a custodian collects the question paper envelope, we take his/her signature and the signature of the accompanying police officer. Once the custodian reaches the school/centre, the seal is opened in front of two teachers, two students and the police officer. All of these have to sign once the envelope is opened. When the answer sheets are submitted to us, we check these signatures but do not get the time to verify them," she explained.

After the paper leak incident came to light, some schools took the police signatures during the last History paper. This confused the police who thus approached the board regarding the exact norms to be followed. It was then revealed that most schools hadn't opened the seal in front of the police. Ansari too had opened it in the car where he clicked pictures of the papers. Now in police custody, the accused had gotten his hands on the papers two hours before the examination. The police analysis of the images guided their search for the corresponding car and thus tracking Ansari.

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Bhiwandi schools under scanner

Crime PI G Bhalerao of Narpoli police station said that all school officials have been asked to submit their custodians' details along with those of the witnesses. "While some schools have sent photographs of this procedure being followed, most schools are yet to submit these details," he said. All 46 schools in Bhiwandi (including Nizampura, Narpoli and Bhiwandi City) are under the police scanner. Until the Science II paper, 60 per cent schools hadn't opened the seal in front of the police office, it has been revealed.

Ramesh Pasikanti, chairman, Kakatiya School said that since the school had just four teachers apart from the principal, "we had given Amber Ansari the sole responsibility of the boards." Pasikanti added, "He is a diligent teacher and we did not have any such doubts. We don't know when he opened the seal."

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