Tutor sold paper to 25 students for ₹60,000: Police

NEWDELHI: A private tutor who was arrested on Sunday in connection with the Class 12 CBSE board economics question paper leak has reportedly told the police that he had forwarded the paper to 25 students for ₹60,000, a member of the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case said on Monday.

Two teachers of a private school in Bawana, Mother Khazani Convent School, identified as Rishabh and Rohit and Tauqeer Hasan, a tutor at a coaching centre, had been arrested on Sunday. The CBSE had suspended an official, KS Rana, for being lax in supervising the exam centre, on Sunday. Police said Rana may be asked to join the probe Tuesday.

During interrogation, Hasan reportedly told the police that after receiving the economics paper from Rohit, he forwarded it to 25 students, a majority of whom studied at Easy Classes coaching centre, where he taught maths.

“Hasan had promised to supply the question paper to some of the coaching centre students for ₹5,000 to ₹15,000. He gave half of the money, ₹30,000, to the two school teachers,” the officer said.

The SIT official said Rishabh planned the operation soon after the board exams started on March 5. He quoted Rishabh as telling the cops that he used to accompany the school principal and others who used to bring the question papers from a secure facility in a sealed envelope.

“Rishabh used to drive the vehicle that was hired by the school authorities for transporting the question papers. He observed the loopholes and hatched the conspiracy to leak the question paper with Rohit and Hasan,” the officer said.

The SIT on Monday also questioned the principal and two others teachers of the school. Investigators said they are also trying to find out if the arrested men had been involved in leaking papers

of other subjects.

Investigators have learnt that the principal was allegedly in his office when the sealed question papers were in Rishabh and Rohit’s custody. We also asked the principal if he was colluding with the two teachers and Hasan. He was confronted with Rishabh and Rohit during the questioning. The principal has claimed that he was unaware of the leak,” said RP Upadhyay, special commissioner of police (crime branch).

Upadhyay said the principal will be questioned on Tuesday. A decision on his arrest would be taken after the questioning, he said. The principal was first interrogated on Saturday, a day before the arrest of the three teachers.

The police are also “looking into some places in Haryana” and are probing whether some CBSE officials or schools in Jhajjar, Sonepat or Bahadurgarh were involved. “The papers were mostly circulated in outer Delhi and areas bordering Haryana,” the official said.