The Crime Branch of the Delhi police raided several coaching institutes in the city and questioned the owner of one on Thursday to reach those who leaked CBSE's Class X mathematics and Class XII economics papers on WhatsApp.
The crackdown comes a day after CBSE said the two exams will be held again following reports of paper leak. The top education body's move means 22 lakh students — 5 lakh in Class XII economics and 17 lakh in Class X maths — will have to take the tests again.
CBSE class X, class XII re-examination dates. Details here
So far, 25 people, including students, teachers and private tutors, have been questioned by the Crime Branch. All ten students who received questions are from different convent schools. Students appeared for the mathematics paper on Wednesday, while the economics paper was held on Monday. A total of 28 lakh students took this year's Class X and Class XII exams that began on March 5.
On Thursday, raids were carried out at coaching centres in Dwarka, Rohini and Rajinder Nagar. "Seven college students, 11 school students and seven tutors have been questioned," said RP Upadhayay, Special CP (crime). Cops picked up one Vicky for questioning. He runs a coaching institute in Central Delhi's Rajinder Nagar. The DU graduate told cops that he had also received questions via WhatsApp.
College students who were questioned are mostly first-year students. They are from the same school as the students who received questions or met them at institutes.
"College students claimed they passed on questions received through WhatsApp just to help juniors. Message trail is being tracked. Vicky was first questioned on Monday, but no evidence was found against him and he was let off then," said a police official.
Police is also trying to trace from where leaks were transmitted and who could possibly be benefited. Crime Branch sleuths have asked CBSE to explain the process of setting up papers, where they are stored and how they are distributed.
Sources said that a few students who were apparently weak caught hold of an insider who had access to question papers. Police officials are also scanning the roles of the printing press.
"Students were asked to come to Outer Delhi areas in Rohini and Uttam Nagar. The prices ranged from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000 per paper. When the payment was made, the student was sent the paper via WhatsApp, 24 hours prior to the exam," said a source.
The Cyber Cell of the Delhi police is investigating the mail received by CBSE a day prior to the exam. "We are trying to check the mail trail. The numbers mentioned by CBSE are also being traced to ascertain the source. CBSE is readily responding to our queries," said Upadhayay.
The Delhi police has registered two FIRs for both cases following a complaint from the top education body on Wednesday about the leaks reported from a couple of schools in Delhi. Retest dates are likely to be announced on CBSE's website within a week.
The first FIR was registered on Tuesday regarding the economics paper. The second case was lodged on Wednesday about the Mathematics paper.
The cases have been registered for criminal breach of trust, cheating, and criminal conspiracy.
A special investigation team has been constituted. Two DCPs, four ACPs and five Inspectors are carrying out investigations led by the Joint Commissioner of Police (crime).
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi phoned Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar, conveyed his unhappiness and called for strict action.
This is a second such case to have been reported in a fortnight. The class XII accountancy question paper was also allegedly leaked on WhatsApp, hours before the examination began on March 15, a claim CBSE had denied but promised police action and an investigation. But no retest took place in that case.
Could CBSE retests have been avoided?
CBSE and police knew about leaks much before 5 lakh Class XII students wrote their economics paper on Monday and 17 lakh Class X students wrote their maths paper on Wednesday
- Vicky Leaks: CBSE’s complaint says it received a fax at 4.22 pm on Friday from an ‘unknown source’ that a man named Vicky, who runs a coaching institute in Central Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar, was involved in leaks.
- First warning: The complaint also named two schools in Rajinder Nagar for their involvement. Board handed over the fax complaint, WhatsApp messages and numbers to police on Saturday.
- Mystery envelope: At 6 pm on Monday CBSE received an unaddressed envelope with 4 sheets of handwritten answers to the Eco paper. WhatsApp numbers that received the answers were also mentioned.
Who is Vicky?
Vicky, 40, was questioned by the police on Thursday. He is suspected to be involved in the leak of the economics paper. He started his coaching centre in 1994, used to teach maths and economics. The commerce student graduated from DU in 1996.
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