CBSE Class 12 Economics paper leak: Accused Rakesh Kumar says he wanted to help weak student

Following the arrests made in connection with the  leak of Class XII CBSE Economics paper in Himachal Pradesh's Una , one of the accused, exam superintendent Rakesh Kumar said that he wanted to help his student who was ‘weak in economics’. The Class XII Economics paper of CBSE was leaked on 23 March — three days before the exam date — in Una town and shared on at least 40 WhatsApp groups, Delhi Police said on Saturday after the arrest of three people in this connection. [caption id=“attachment_4410383” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The three accused — Rakesh, Amit Sharma, and Ashok Kumar — all from DAV Centenary Public School in Una, were arrested by the crime branch after a lengthy investigation and questioning, RP Upadhyay, special commissioner (crime) of police, said. Rakesh had been teaching at the DAV school as a PGT economics teacher for eight years. He was the centre superintendent of Jawahar Navodaya Public School in Una, where the CBSE exams were being held. Amit and Ashok worked at the DAV school as clerk and peon respectively. On 23 March, three days before the Class XII Economics exam, Rakesh had collected bundles of computer science paper, the exam for which was due that day, from the strong room of Union Bank in Una. He also picked up a bundle of economics paper, Upadhyay said. “While he took computer science paper bundle to Jawahar Navodaya, he handed over the economics paper bundle to his colleagues: Amit and Ashok,” the officer said. The duo took out a copy of the economics paper and sent it to Rakesh via WhatsApp messaging application. Rakesh then got it handwritten by a student whom he tutored. “The hand-written copy was sent by Rakesh to his relative in Chandigarh, whose son was appearing for Class XII exam. That way, the hand-written copy got leaked on WhatsApp groups,” he said. Later, the three accused deleted the WhatsApp messages and destroyed the hand-written copy to hide digital footprints. “Investigation so far has revealed that the hand-written copy was available on 40 WhatsApp groups. At least 30-40 students got it but a lot of trails is yet to be covered,” said Upadhyay. “The motive for paper leakage so far has emerged that Rakesh wanted to help his student who was weak in economics. He also helped his relative. No money angle has come up so far, but the investigation is on to determine if the accused leaked any other papers,” the officer added. The leak was exposed after an envelope containing four images of the hand-written economics paper was delivered to CBSE Headquarters in Delhi on the evening of the scheduled date of the exam on 26 March. On 30 March, CBSE announced it would re-conduct the Class XII Economics exam throughout the country on 25 April. The police has registered two cases in connection with the matter. The first case relating to the leak of economics paper was filed on 27 March, while the other pertaining to the leak of mathematics paper was lodged on 28 March. The probe into the leak of CBSE Class X Mathematics and Class XII Economics question papers has led the police to believe that the leak happened between the time the papers were in custody of board officials and when those were kept in banks. With inputs from PTI