Delhi Police Crime Branch have cracked the mystery behind the leak of the Central Board of Secondary Education Class X Maths paper and have arrested the main protagonist who has been identified as Sheru Ram, the branch manager of Bank of India, Una branch in Himachal. Sheru Ram was arrested along with co-accused Om Prakash, the cashier of his branch, and Manju Bala, woman from Ferozepur in Punjab.
Investigations by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which was probing the class XII Economics paper leak, revealed that X 10 Maths and class XII Economics were leaked from Una in Himachal Pradesh after which the papers went viral via at least on 40 WhatsApp groups.
The arrests came after the one of the accused, in the class XII Economics paper, Rakesh Kumar, earlier arrested by the SIT, last week disclosed that he obtained the class XII Economics paper and the Class X Maths paper from the Branch Manager and the cashier of the Union Bank of India of Una district in Himachal Pradesh.
Talking about the leak of the papers, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Alok Kumar said, “Sheru Ram and Om Prakash opened the locker, took out both the bundles (Class 10 maths and Class 12 economics) and then handed them to Rakesh Kumar.
Rakesh Kumar, teaching Economics and Maths at the DAV centenary school for the past eight years, was the centre superintendent of the Jawahar Navodaya Public School in Una, While Rakesh gave out the Class X Economics paper to Amit Kumar, a clerk and Ashok Kumar, a peon, who further sent it on whatsapp groups, Rakesh kept the class X Maths paper with himself.
During interrogation, Rakesh Kumar said that he was promised by his Ferozpur relative that if he leaks the class X maths paper, she will help him in getting a promotion. Since he has been teaching in the DAV centenary school for past eight years, the woman had promised him that she will get him promoted to the post of the School Principal.
Rakesh revealed that he wanted to help one of his students, a class 10 student. “He called the student to his house, took the question paper of class 10 maths, asked the girl to write down the questions on a separate sheet and then he clicked photographs of the handwritten questions and whatsapped it to his relative, Manju Bala in Ferozpur. She further forwarded it to her relative, a woman in Panchkula who forwaded it to a woman in Paschim Vihar in Delhi.
Alok Kumar said, “On April 7, the SIT led by DCP Dr Ram Gopal Naik had arrested Rakesh Kumar, Amit Kumar and Ashok Kumar from Una. They were taken on five days police remand. During sustained questioning, Rakesh Kumar told us that he had kept the class 10 maths paper bundle with himself to help a student. So far, in the course of investigation, we have not found trail of money transaction.”
Police said that the class X maths paper was leaked on March 23, five days before the exam took place on March 28. While the handwritten questions of the class X Economics paper was leaked on March 26, the paper was leaked on WhatsApp groups 45 minutes before the exam was scheduled on March 26.
Police had said that the issue of leak of economics paper surfaced after an envelope containing four images of a hand-written copy of the question paper was sent to the CBSE Headquarters in Delhi on the evening March 26, the day of the exam. The board, on March 30, had announced that it would re-conduct the Class 12 economics exam throughout the country on April 25.
The police have registered two separate cases in both the paper leaks. The case relating to the leak of the economics paper was filed on March 27, while the other on the Mathematics paper leak was lodged on March 28.