School principal among 3 held for Class X ‘question paper leak’ in Assam | Guwahati News – Times of India

GUWAHATI/DIBRUGARH: Three persons, including a school principal, were arrested and 19 others, mostly students, were detained by the Assam Police on Tuesday in connection with the alleged Class X state board examination question paper leak.
Assam Police spokesperson and IGP (Law and Order) PK Bhuyan said a principal, a teacher and casual employee of a higher secondary school in the Kahilipara area of the city have been arrested.
Earlier, speaking to the media, he said there is ample ground to suspect the involvement of teachers and employees of the city school which could not furnish a packet of question papers. “Forty-two question paper packets were sent to the school in Kahilipara but during investigation, one packet was missing,” Bhuyan added.
The general science paper scheduled on Monday was cancelled the previous night after a handwritten question paper went viral on the social media. According to sources in the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (Seba), several questions of the “leaked paper” matched with the original paper.
Assam DGP GP Singh took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to break the news of the detentions from Guwahati, North Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Sadiya, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. “Further lawful action as mandated by law is being taken against them. We remain committed to unearth the network of people involved in leakage of the question paper and the conspirators,” Singh wrote.
The Assam Police had on Monday registered a criminal case, based on an FIR lodged by the Seba controller of examination regarding the ‘leak’. The case was handed over to the CID for investigation.
Police said most of the detained students were sharing the handwritten paper on WhatsApp. Incidentally, many of these students were Class XI and XII students. Bhuyan said some of those detained are also Matric candidates.
Dibrugarh Police have detained eight students and one other person in connection with the case. Dibrugarh SP Shwetank Mishra said most students detained by the police belong to Salt Brook Academy, Dibrugarh. He added that the leaked paper was forwarded by the detained students to other students in exchange of money ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000.
“The monetary transaction was done through digital payment. In some cases, the question paper was provided free of cost by the detained students to their relatives and friends,” Mishra said.
Education minister Ranoj Pegu said, “We may have to wait for some time for the outcome of the investigation.” he said.
In another allegation, a candidate from Dhemaji district, who was caught for cheating during maths examination, alleged that he got the question paper three days before the exam. The Seba and police, however, said no FIR or police complaint has been lodged in this regard yet.