NAGPUR: Police are investigating a suspected paper leak in the ongoing Maharashtra state board exam’s Class 12 Chemistry paper held on February 18, after ‘similar questions’ were found in a WhatsApp message on the phone of a female student appearing for the exam in Nagpur city. The Nagpur divisional board office has confirmed the development to TOI and added the incident came to light when exam supervisor got suspicious of a female student’s frequent trips to the washroom. Shivling Patve, Nagpur divisional board chairman, said, “The student was trying to access a mobile phone, which was confiscated by centre examiners. It was found that some questions in a WhatsApp message were similar to the actual ones in the paper. An FIR has been registered, and cops are investigating, due to which I won’t be able to say much. But from our side, we will also conduct an inquiry and submit a report to our seniors.” As of now it was not clear whether the student had the phone on her person or had kept it in the washroom from where she accessed it. Patve said, “We will ramp our vigilance and ensure that no spot is missed while checking such places.” In the past, Maharashtra state board has witnessed similar incidents and each year tried to ramp up security along the entire chain of paper setting to paper printing to distribution. A junior board official from the Nagpur office said “After the police investigation is complete we will get to know at which stage the paper got leaked.”
