HSC paper leak: FIR lodged, city tuition teacher suspect

Nagpur: Police are investigating a suspected paper leak in two subjects — Physics and Chemistry — in the ongoing Maharashtra state board HSC (Class 12) exam after a cell phone confiscated from a student unearthed a WhatsApp group, where questions similar to those in the paper were in circulation. The questions were doing the rounds online much before the start of the exam.Police traced the digital link to a tuition teacher in the city's Mankapur area and are now investigating how the sensitive content came in his possession. The purported paper leak came to light on February 18 when invigilators at St Ursula Girls High School got suspicious of a girl student's prolonged washroom trip, following which she was frisked and a smartphone was found.
A WhatsApp group on her phone had questions similar to the Chemistry exam on Wednesday. Sources said, when the female student was questioned by school authorities, she began crying. This put everyone on the defensive, worrying about her health.Soon a Sadar police team led by senior inspector Amol Deshmukh reached the exam centre and questioned the student. What shocked everyone was that it just wasn't the February 18 paper, but also the physics paper on February 16 had allegedly been "leaked". On the WhatsApp group, questions were sent around 10.35am, while the paper's start time was 11am.The WhatsApp group has many members and as cops scanned through each one of them, the digital trail led to the owner of a tuition institute in Mankapur of the city. The teacher is now under scrutiny, with police suspecting his involvement in obtaining the papers from a member connected to the board. Cops say they will question all members in the WhatsApp group and the probe may uncover wider links to the board.The police officer said, "An FIR was registered on Friday, and the case is under investigation. We are examining technical details of the accused's WhatsApp number and focusing on how the papers were accessed and distributed for potential monetary gains." Nagpur divisional board chairman, Shivling Patve, also confirmed the development and said the board will conduct an internal inquiry.This is not the first time Maharashtra's state board has been rocked by a paper leak. In 2023, Buldhana police arrested a college principal and staff members for opening a sealed HSC mathematics paper, photographing them and selling copies for about ₹10,000. In 2018, students at a Kalyan centre received history and political science papers over an hour before the SSC exam. During the 2017 HSC exams, the Marathi paper surfaced about 20 minutes early, while days later the Secretarial Practice paper was circulated 13 minutes before distribution and the physics paper went viral after 11 am, prompting a police complaint. Even in 2016, a Mumbai teacher photographed the Class 12 accountancy paper and shared it via WhatsApp.