At least 27 people, including 13 students, have been arrested in connection with the Assam Class 10 board exam paper leak, official said on Friday.
Two were the masterminds of Assam’s Class 10 general science and Assamese papers’ leak, official said.
The two arrested masterminds were identified as Kumud Rajkhowa and Pranab Dutta.
On Friday, Kumud Rajkhowa surrendered before the police soon after DGP GP Singh asked to him to give up or he would face strong action. Rajkhowa is a science teacher at the Dafalakata Higher Secondary School in Lakhimpur.
Meanwhile, the other mastermind, Dutta is the headteacher and centre in charge of Dafalakata Higher Secondary School in the district, was arrested on Thursday.
Singh said that 14 adults and 13 “children in conflict with law” were arrested. Four others, including a child, were detained and they were being arrested, he added. The minors were lodged in juvenile homes.
The investigation revealed that Dutta had received 29 sets of test questions but only included 28 sets in the record. He provided Rajkhowa a copy of a general science paper that he had stolen, Singh said.
“Rajkhowa then distributed it to his school’s students and sold some copies to other individuals,” DGP claimed.
On Thursday, Dutta revealed that he had also stolen a copy of the Assamese paper and given it to Rajkhowa, we informed the chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the education minister Ranoj Pegu and senior officials in the government,” the DGP added.
However, the Board of Secondary Education, Assam has rescheduled the exams of the two papers, much to the chagrin of the Class 10 students who continued with their protests, he said.
