The Crime Branch sleuths on Tuesday arrested three more officials of residential colleges in connection with the Plus-Two physics question paper leak conducted by the Council for Higher Secondary Education (CHSE).
The three have been identified as Saroj Kumar Mohanty, principal of Lambodar College of Science, Kalahandi, Rajendra Prasad Malla, secretary of Chaitanya College of Science, Chikatmati, near Rourkela, and Akhaya Kumar Ratha, chairman of Rajgangpur-based Om Maa Saraswati Institute of Science and Technology. All the three colleges are private and residential.
The CB had earlier arrested CHSE deputy secretary for western Odisha Debendra Behera and two officials of Sambalpur-based Sandhilya College of Science and Commerce Kartik Barik and Subashish Barik. During the interrogation, it was found out that Behera’s son was studying in Chaitanya College of Education. The lead to two other officials of the residential college was also found out during interrogation.
Xerox copies of the hand-written leaked question papers of the plus-two examinations were reportedly leaked. ‘’They try their best to hide their tracks so as not to get caught.
One such modus operandi is to distribute hand-written photo-copies of the leaked question papers. This way they rule out concrete evidence against them,’’ explained Crime Branch ADG B K Sharma. He said people who get involved in such activities do not give away the exact copy of the question paper, instead they give the questions either through hand-written copies or pass it through phone.
The question paper is charged `10,000 per student. Another option is to sell question papers as a complete set to the residential colleges for a price of `1 lakh or more.
The Crime Branch officials said the investigation is still on to find out if more people are involved in the racket.