The branch manager of Union Bank of India, Una district, and the head cashier in police custody. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)
Claiming to have solved the CBSE Class X maths paper leak, the Delhi Police Crime Branch Thursday said the teacher accused of leaking the Class XII economics paper had also leaked the other paper. Police also arrested three persons, including the branch manager of a government bank where the question papers were kept, and a woman, a relative of the teacher.
Last week, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the crime branch had arrested the accused teacher, Rakesh Kumar Sharma (40), and two others from Himachal Pradesh’s Una district for allegedly leaking the economics paper. Rakesh was deployed as a centre superintendent for the exam by the school he worked for.
Police had claimed that Rakesh leaked the paper to help a girl student. According to JCP (crime) Alok Kumar, he also leaked the Class X paper for a male student who attended his tuition class. “He used to give tuition to at least 10 students of classes X and XII. He wanted his students to pass, so he leaked the papers. However, we have not found a monetary link to the leaks so far,” the JCP said.
On the fresh arrests, Kumar added, “Sheru Ram (35), branch manager of Union Bank of India in Una, and head cashier Om Prakash (58) were arrested for criminal negligence. The woman is Rakesh’s sister-in-law and lives in Punjab’s Ferozepur. She has been arrested for passing on WhatsApp photos of handwritten questions of both papers.”
During questioning, police found that when Rakesh went to the bank on March 23, he took out a bundle of both the economics and math papers.
“While he gave the economics paper to his associates, he opened the seal carefully and took one maths paper. He took photos on his mobile, replaced the paper and resealed the cover. He called one of his students who studies in Class X to his home, who wrote down the questions. Rakesh then took photos of the handwritten questions and forwarded them to his sister-in-law via WhatsApp. She, in turn, sent them to another relative, following which it went viral,” the JCP said.
He added, “Rakesh later deleted all digital evidence from his phone. Hence, IPC Section 201 is being added for destruction of evidence.”
Police sources said Rakesh’s sister-in-law had assured that she has good contacts and can help him find a job as a principal of a school in Himachal Pradesh.
“She sent the question papers to her sister in Delhi’s Paschim Vihar, who passed it on to others,” JCP Kumar said.
Kumar said the branch manager and head cashier were the main custodians of the papers.
“They are supposed to be present when the bank locker is opened for the centre superintendent to take question papers of the relevant subject. But they violated CBSE guidelines by letting Rakesh access the locker by himself,” the JCP said.
The Crime Branch had filed two separate cases in the paper leaks on March 27 and 28, respectively. On April 1, police made the first arrest when they nabbed three teachers from outer Delhi’s Alipur for allegedly leaking the economics paper 45 minutes before the exam. Police had claimed that they were part of a separate module.