HSC paper leak: Top tuition academy-school nexus bared

Nagpur: The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination paper leak in Nagpur exposed a well-oiled nexus between prominent tuition centres and reputed schools acting as exam centres, with Sadar police arresting 4 persons and charging 1 minor in the case in the last 24 hours.The arrests late Sunday confirmed what investigators suspected that the leak was not the handiwork of a lone teacher or student, but a co-ordinated racket involving school insiders, tuition barons and multiple WhatsApp groups that circulated the papers within minutes of the sealed packets being opened. Police are also not ruling out the involvement of state board members in the scam. The probe began after a Class 12 girl was caught with the physics question paper on February 16.Tracing the source, police first nabbed 40-year-old Nishikant Mool of Mankapur, who resumed his tuition classes in the first week of January after a long break. Mool allegedly forwarded both the physics paper (February 16) and chemistry paper on February 18 in his private WhatsApp group of Class 12 students.
During interrogation, Mool revealed he was part of another exclusive WhatsApp group that had only 6 members — 5 students and himself. He received the papers from a Class 12 student who was traced to a well-known tuition academy in Mominpura in central Nagpur. The minor was charged with undertaking unfair means too and was made a co-accused.Police later raided the top tuition brand office in Mominpura. This led to the arrest of an employee of a Momimpura academy, Junaid Muhammad Abdul Javed, who shared the papers in the academy's internal WhatsApp group. Junaid told cops he got the exam papers from the official mobile number of the tuition institute, where he was class coordinator. Hours later, the academy owner, Mustafa Khan Munir Khan of Bhankhera, was also taken into custody. "However, the person who forwarded the question papers to the Mominpura-based tuition academy is on the run," said a cop. Multiple mobile phones and chat screenshots were seized to establish the chain.The fourth arrest was of Class 12 student Farhan Akhtar, who allegedly supplied answer keys of the leaked papers. Senior Inspector Amol Deshmukh, who is leading the special investigation team (SIT) is probing the case under the supervision of zonal DCP Nityanand Jha, joint CP Navinchandra Reddy and CP Ravinder Singal.Police sources said the timing of the leaks — between 10.30am and 10.40am — is clinching evidence that photographs were clicked inside exam centres immediately after confidential packets were opened for distribution."Schools which are designated exam centres receive papers from the board's strong room. Someone inside may have clicked photographs in the confidential section and forwarded them to tuition operators. From there, the papers went viral on multiple WhatsApp groups of top coaching classes across the city," an official said.Investigators suspect the number of beneficiaries is over 50 — students who received the papers and answer keys before the exams. "The scam is much bigger than what has surfaced so far. We are likely to make more arrests in the coming days," the officer added. The SIT is now examining call detail records, WhatsApp chat histories and financial transactions of all accused to identify the school-level insider who first clicked the photographs. Police also issued notices to several other prominent tuition centres.