After science & Assamese, ‘geography’ paper goes viral, examinee detained

GUWAHATI: After two question paper leaks — general science and Assamese — of the Class X state boards, a geography paper has now gone viral on social media.
Though education minister Ranoj Pegu on Saturday clarified that the paper that has allegedly been leaked is ‘fake’, his department lodged an FIR against one Musum Ali in this connection.
Musum has been detained and interrogation is on, police sources said. “The Board of Secondary Education Assam (Seba) has informed me that it was the 2021 question paper. Somebody has morphed it and changed 2021 to 2023. During inquiry, the Nagaon district inspector of schools (IS) got in touch with Musum Ali, who circulated the morphed paper on WhatsApp,” Pegu told the media.
Incidentally, the purported photographs of the first page of the said geography paper was for the 2021 board exam which wasn’t held because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Geography is an elective subject in Class X.
The exam was scheduled to be held on Monday. Nagaon district circle IS, Mridul Kumar Nath, in his FIR, stated that two matric candidates of the district received the question paper from Class X state board examinee Musum, a student of Uttaran Academy.
Nath said during inquiry, Musum told him that he received only the fake news to confuse the candidates. Police have informed us that the reported Chemistry paper leak was fake,” the education minister said. Since last Sunday, two exams — general science and Assamese (Modern Indian Language)/ English (in lieu) — have been cancelled after question paper leaks in both instances were confirmed. Both the exams have been rescheduled to March 30 and April 1 respectively.
IGP (law and Order) and Assam Police spokesperson PK Bhuyan told TOI on Saturday evening that so far 32 people (including several minors and two masterminds) have already been arrested. Both the masterminds — in-charge of the Luhit Khabolu Higher Secondary School, Pranab Dutta, and that of Dafalakata Higher Secondary School, Kumud Rajkhowa — were brought to Guwahati from their home district Lakhimpur.
front page of the question paper. “He (Musum) also said that it may be an edited question paper which went viral,” Nath said in the FIR. Dismissing the reports of another question paper leak, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “It appears that certain groups of people are attempting to disrupt the entire atmosphere by fabricating false leaks of the High School Leaving Certificate exam papers. @assampolice will investigate the matter to ascertain the identities of the groups and take appropriate actions.”
Meanwhile, the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council also filed a police complaint to probe into the alleged Class XII Chemistry paper leak on February 28. Pegu, however, said the allegation was baseless. “In both the matric and higher secondary exams, a section of people is spreading