Guwahati: Three months after the leak of the question paper of the General Science of High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted the chargesheet against 41 accused, including ten teachers before the court of Kamrup Metro chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in Guwahati on Wednesday.
“The chargesheet also named two attendants, 24 students and five middlemen in connection with the case registered under 120B/420/409/218/201 of IPC and section 66B of IT Act for being part of the conspiracy to leak and circulate the question paper,” CID superintendent of police Pranab Kumar Goswami said in an official statement.
“The investigating agency also submitted 86 documents, statements of 128 witnesses and 48 material objects, before the court,” the statement said.
The question paper of the General Science of HSLC exam conducted by the Board of Secondary Education Assam (SEBA) was leaked on social media platforms in Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Majuli and Dhemaji, a day ahead of the exam which was scheduled on March 13.
The CID, entrusted to probe into the case, has arrested 41 people, including 13 children (in conflict with the law) in connection with the case.
A case was registered under Section 120B/420/427 of IPC read with Section 66 B of the IT Act in addition to Section 409/201/218 of IPC on March 13 based on a complaint lodged by the Secondary Education Board of Assam (SEBA).
“During the investigation, it has come to light that Pranab Kumar Dutta, headmaster and centre-in-charge of Lohit Khaboli High School, Lakhimpur in connivance with Kumud Rajkhowa, teacher of Dafalakata Janajati High School, Lakhimpur were the chief perpetrators of the conspiracy to leak the question paper of HSLC examination with an ulterior motive to sell the paper for pecuniary benefits,” the statement said.
Both were arrested along with 39 others found to be involved in the conspiracy to leak and circulate the question paper.
“During the search operation conducted at the residence of Pranab Kumar Dutta, half burnt pieces of question paper of General Science subject of HSLC examination and ashes generated after burning the paper were recovered and subsequently sent to Forensic Science Laboratory opined that the recovered half burnt pieces have similarity with the original question paper of General Science subject,” it said.
“Also as disclosed by Pranab Kumar Dutta during custodial interrogation, the sheet containing the handwritten answers of MCQ part of General Science Q-paper of HSLC exam was seized from his rented house on being led and shown by him in the presence of witnesses. The handwriting on this seized sheet matched with that of Pranab Dutta as opined by the handwriting expert of FSL,” it also said.
Further, it read, “The seized sheet of paper containing the handwritten answers of MCQ part and questions along with the serial numbers also matched with the original question paper (now cancelled) of General Science subject of HSLC examination as certified by SEBA”.
Kumud Rajkhowa, a teacher of Dafalakata Janajati High School, Lakhimpur has copied the questions of General Science paper on a sheet of paper and circulated it to known students through WhatsApp and received cash in exchange.
Pranab Dutta, the centre-in-charge, had received 29 sets of question papers. But he had managed to put one set of each question paper out of sight and later circulated it.
It was revealed during the investigation that Pranab Dutta had circulated the question paper to Kumud Rajkhowa, who shared the paper in the school’s WhatsApp group.
In addition to this, Pranab Dutta also circulated a question paper on the Assamese subject to Kumud Rajkhowa, which stated to be burnt down.
The remnants of burnt question papers have been recovered from the campus of the rented accommodation of Pranab Dutta, and those were sent for forensic tests.
“A total of 47 mobiles which received the handwritten question papers were seized and the deleted images were retrieved using cyber forensic tools. The handwriting in these WhatsApp images matched with those of Kumud Rajkhowa and two students Sourabjyoti Baruwati and Aditya Singh,” the statement said.
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The QR Code used and UPI transactions used for transferring the money to buy the Q-paper were unearthed.
“Further, Jyoti Rekha Borgohain, principal of Bhauri Devi Sarawgi HS School, Kahillipara and Herambo Kumar Das, assistant teacher of BDS HS School, Kahilipara along with Chittaranjan Roy (casual worker of the school) were also charge-sheeted for submitting a false report to SEBA by suppressing the shortage of General Science question paper after the inspection,” it added.
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