Narayana College V-P booked for paper ‘leak’ in Tirupati

TIRUPATI/VIJAYAWADA: Chittoor police have identified two employees including the vice-principal of Narayana College in Tirupati for the alleged question paper leak on the first day of SSC examinations on Wednesday. 

The SSC Class 10 question paper ‘Composite Telugu’ was circulated on WhatsApp groups in Chittoor after the exam commenced. District education authorities termed the incident ‘paper circulation’ and not a leak as students were already inside the exam centres.District Education Officer (DEO) Sriram Purushottam said he received information about the incident at 10.57 am. 

Stating that the students had already entered the exam hall at 9:30 am, the DEO clarified, “We cannot call it a paper leak because it happened after the exam began. Students and invigilators do not have access to mobile phones inside the exam centres. The exam was therefore conducted as per schedule without any suspension.” 

A complaint has been lodged with the police and cybercrime personnel are probing the incident, the DEO reported.As per preliminary probe, police have concluded that two persons­—Giridhar Reddy, Vice-Principal of Narayana College and K Sudhakar Reddy, an employee of NRI College, in Tirupati—were involved. A case under Sections 5 r/w 8 r/w 10 of AP Public Examinations Prevention of Malpractices Act and IPC Section 408 has been registered.

At a press conference in Vijayawada, Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana denied all reports of a question paper leak and said, “A section of vernacular media is unnecessarily spreading rumours.”It is not right to subject students to such anguish during exams, he remarked and said, “A clerk took a picture of the staff paper at a school in Nandyal in the presence of teachers. The photo came out at 9:45 am after the exam had begun at 9:30 am on Wednesday.’’