Question paper leak: 14 students questioned, released

The fate of 14 students, who were detained on Monday in connection with the question paper leak of SSLC preparatory examinations, is at stake.

Bengaluru city police sent them back on Tuesday evening, but the students are in a fix as they could be summoned again for further inquiry. All of them are to appear for their Class 10 board exams.

A senior police officer said the detained students were admins in the WhatsApp groups where the papers were circulated.

The one who downloaded the paper from Hello App is yet to be caught.

Question papers of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate preparatory examinations were leaked in Bengaluru, Ballari and Kolar and circulated on WhatsApp hours before the exams.

“If anyone from the school or board is involved, action will be initiated against them,” an officer said, adding that the students were sent back on humanitarian grounds as they won’t be allowed to appear for exams if they are arrested.

“If the police continue the detention of suspected students, they will not be allowed to sit for board exams,” said a senior official from the Department of Primary and Secondary Education

The students were questioned based on a complaint filed on February 20 by Basavaraju, deputy director of Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), with the Cyber Crime, Economic Offences & Narcotics (CEN) police stations of North Division.

The students are from three different private schools in Bangarpet of Kolar district. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) N Shashi Kumar said they were sent back with parents after questioning.

The preparatory examinations began on February 17. The mathematics question paper was leaked before that, following which several students approached the KSEEB.

The Board made light of the leak saying, “There is a lot of difference between preparatory and main examinations. For preparatory exam, we directly send papers to all schools much before the exam. This could have been the reason for the leak. But for the main examination, papers will be sent to schools/exam centres on the day of the exams with all security in place. So parents and students need not worry.”