Teens stole SSC papers with intent to make a quick buck

The Dahisar police on Saturday cracked a case of theft of 516 SSC examination answer sheets from the principal's cabin at Isra Vidyalaya on April 3. Their investigation led them to a scrap dealer who said four persons had approached him to sell the sheets as scrap. The scrap dealer, however, had refused to pay them the amount demanded by them.

According to the police, the four accused include two minors, who will be sent to the Dongri children's home. A total of 516 answer papers of Hindi medium history, science and Sanskrit examinations were stolen from the principal's cabin at Dahisar's Isra Vidyalaya.

According to police, Aqeeb Shaikh,19 and Vikram Sharma,18, along with two 17 year-olds entered the school premises illegally to look for text books and hard bound books that would fetch a good price if sold to a scrap dealer.

After entering the principal's cabin of Istra Vidyalaya at Ghartan Pada in Dahisar East, Aqeeb found a bunch of answer sheets bundled in a plastic bag. The accused then decamped with the 516 answer sheets.

Principal Nagendra Pathak noticed that the answer sheets were missing and on April 7, he lodged a complaint with the Dahisar police, who then initiated a probe.

"Our informant network revealed that their motive was to make quick money by selling papers as scrap, and they did not know that they were SSC answer sheets," said the officer.

"The answer sheets are in good conditions and will be handed over to the education department", said Kirankumar Chavan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 12.