CBSE chief forced to surface

Board boss went ‘missing’ even as students outraged; Tutors, coach, students questioned but no arrest

It took a day-long relentless media campaign to bring the CBSE chairwoman Anita Karwal – known for her proximity to the PM -- out of the closet and acknowledge that lakhs of children will have to go through yet again the rigours of a re-examination in two papers, at least.

But Karwal had no comments to offer on the allegation cited in the FIR that the board was aware of the paper leak two days before the exam took place. In fact, the police too had received a call in the control room on the same day about the alleged paper leak.

The CBSE chief ‘broke her silence even as outraged students in Delhi held a protest, demanding a re-examination in all papers. They say besides math and economics, many other papers were leaked before the exams.

While Karwal merely said that they ‘’are working for the children,’’ Union minister Parakash Javadekar came out with equally hollow words, saying that "I also could not sleep. I am also a parent."

The board had been overlooking complaints for days that question papers were being leaked.

The FIR shows it received a fax on March 23, two days before the economics exam. They informed the police the next day, but the exam was not called off. A case was filed on March 27, a day after the exam.

For ‘public consumption,’ the owner of a coaching centre, 18 students and five tutors were called in for questioning, but no arrests have taken place.

Even though the police have recovered snapshots of the handwritten question papers, which were being circulated on WhatsApp, from him. They are trying to trace the source of the WhatsApp messages now, but are facing problems because of the endto-end encryption.

The investigation is now looking at an education mafia, possibly involving CBSE officials,