Hyderabad, April 11: Initial police investigation has revealed that all question papers of the second-year degree examinations of Osmania University held so far have leaked.
City police arrested five persons today for their alleged role in the scam. They include a B Com second-year student, two degree-holders and two xerox shop owners. However, the kingpin of the racket is yet to be identified.
Though police are yet to confirm the leak of other question papers, they confirmed the leak of the question paper of Business Statistics examination held on April 2.
Investigators said the questions were being leaked out from a particular examination centre two hours before the commencement of the examination.
The racket came to light after the university authorities sensed leak and informed the Task Force sleuths.
The West Zone Task Force sleuths laid a trap and nabbed the five persons at different places in the city and recovered the question papers from the possession of students well before the examination.
On comparing the photocopies with the original question paper, they came to the conclusion that leaks were taking place.
According to the police, the question papers were given to Rhonak, a second-year B Com student of Aurora College, by his friends Ankit and Mohit who are also students of B.Com.
Rhonak, a resident of Hyderguda, supplied copies to his friends Vishal of Chappal Bazar and Ibrahim of Kishan Bagh, both graduates.
“The duo made photostat copies of the question paper at Sujatha Book Stall at Barkatpura and Lakshmi Communications at Nimboliadda, and sold the question paper to students for amounts ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 each,’’ a Task Force official said.
They also gave some copies to the shop owners, Srikanth and R Pavan, who sold the papers to some students.
“It is clear that the questions of Business Statistics examination held on April 2 were leaked. We have information that the questions of all second-year examinations held till today have been leaked,’’ an official said, adding that the question papers became available on the market two hours before the examination.
Officials said the kingpin was yet to be identified, and Ankit and Mohit are absconding. “It is only after their arrest that we can know whether some university employees or managements of colleges are behind the leak,’’ they said.
Based on a complaint lodged by the controller of examinations, the Central Crime Station (CCS) registered a case of cheating under Section 8 of the Prevention of Malpractices Act and Unfair Act, 1992.
According to OU authorities, question papers are dispatched a day in advance to examination centres in far-off districts like Nalgonda, Mahaboobnagar, Ranga Reddy, Medak and Nizamabad. For the centres in the city, the papers are sent only in the morning.
“The papers might have leaked from a centre in the city only,’’ police said. University authorities, however, said they were not sure from where the question papers leaked out.
On Saturday, OU officials said they would take stringent action against the accused after completion of investigation and said the examinations would continue as per schedule.
—Expressnews