Remember around the same time last year, the question paper for the II PUC chemistry exam had leaked twice? Well, it’s happened again. This time, it was an accountancy paper.
According to the Deputy Commissioner of Raichur, Gautham Bagadi, he received information around 12.30 pm on Monday that pictures of the accountancy paper had surfaced on WhatsApp and that the incident had occurred at two different centres within his jurisdiction.
A part-time faculty member of both Kalinga PU College and Kalamath PU College, Sidhana Goud, tried to leak the paper by entering the halls dress as a member of the flying squad, two hours after the exam began. It is not clear what was the purpose of clicking images of the question paper when the exam was already on.
“Goud entered SRSVS PU College at around 10.45am and clicked a photograph of one of the students’ question paper during invigilation and sent the image via WhatsApp to the Principal of Kalinga PU College, Mahesh. At 11.30am, Mahesh forwarded the message to the college Director, Sharana Basappa,” Bagadi said.
However, by the time the paper circulated, the PU Department officials were informed and it was later learnt that Goud had clicked a photograph of only a part of the question paper.
“The question paper had 18 pages, of which only one page was photographed. We have confirmation that none of the students had received the message,” Primary and secondary education minister Tanveer Sait told media persons.
The Kalinga PU College was stripped of its recognition and Sait added that those who were pursuing I PUC there would be relocated to other colleges.
The Chief Superintendent of the exam centre, Vijay Rao has been suspended and summoned for probe.
“We have filed a case under section 26 of the Karnataka Education Act, and sections 120b and 72 of the IPC,” said Bagadi.
He also said that while the motive behind the leak was has not yet been established and the investigators are questioning him to find out if he had planned to leak other papers.
Last year, the chemistry question paper for the PU board exams was leaked, forcing the department to hold a re-exam. Unfortunately, the second question paper had also been leaked and students had to write the same exam thrice. After this incident, a strict surveillance system was put in place this year to prevent such incidents.