The Union Government, apparently in a damage control exercise, on Friday announced that CBSE Class XII reexamination for the Economics paper will be held on April 25 across the country. While the re-examination for the Class X Mathematics paper will be held in July in States of Delhi, NCR and Haryana only if it is needed.

“For Class X, we have found in the prelim enquiry that the leaks were restricted in Delhi-NCR and Haryana and if the re-exam will happen, the exam will be held in the two States in July,” said Anil Swarup, Secretary School Education. He said the decision in this regard will be taken in the next 15 days.

Swarup said the Class X Mathematics question paper was leaked only in Delhi and Haryana as there was no evidence that it was a pan-India affair. He said the Government’s decision is keeping in view the aspirants who have suffered.

“There are no perfect solutions to this kind of situation. Our immediate concern of the children who have suffered and this decision is in that context. We will nail the person who did this,” said Swarup.

Also, he said there has been no leak outside India, hence no re-examination will be held outside the country. “The question papers are different for students appearing for the CBSE examinations outside India,” he said.

Students and parents protested outside the CBSE offices in Delhi alleging that the board failed in maintaining the sanctity of the examination. The students accused the board of negligence and demanded immediate action against those guilty. Earlier in day student organistions like Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) met Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on the same.

 Two days after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) lodged two FIRs into the leak of the Class X Mathematics and Class XII Economics paper, Delhi Police Crime Branch officials on Friday said they have questioned 50 people in connection with the case so far.

A senior police officer, part of the investigations told The Pioneer, “We have sent our teams to ten places. Apart from that, as per the complaint given by the Regional Director of the CBSE, the papers were leaked on WhatsApp groups through four numbers. Our technical teams are also working to find out the origin.”

Police said the CBSE has submitted details of the examination centres sought by the Crime Branch.  A senior officer said that, “We have sought details of the examination centres, names of the superintendents and the contacts of banks where the papers were kept for the safe keeping.”

On Thursday, police had “interacted” with the CBSE controller of examinations for over two hours to learn about the entire process.

An official privy to the probe said things like how the paper is set, details of where the question papers are kept and how they are distributed to various examination centres were discussed with the CBSE official.

The Delhi Police has registered two cases in connection with the leak. The first case relating to the leak of the Economics paper was lodged on March 27 and the other pertaining to the mathematics paper was lodged on March 28, following a complaint by the regional director of the CBSE.

The cases were registered on charges of criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising two Deputy Commissioners of Police, four Assistant Commissioners and five Inspectors has been set up to investigate the case that has rocked the country. The team is being supervised by the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).