Authorities of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education that conducts the Madhyamik examination have claimed that the location from where the English question paper was “leaked” on Friday was in Malda district.
This revelation came on Saturday when a fresh allegation that the geography question paper was leaked stirred up a fresh controversy around the ongoing exam with 6.98 lakh examinees in the state.
Biplab Gupta, convener of the Madhyamik examinations in Malda, however, denied that the question paper had been leaked. Those allegedly involved in the English paper leak have been identified with the help of the cybercrime department, sources said.
On Friday, state BJP unit president Sukanta Majumdar claimed that he received photos of three pages of the English paper through social media, barely 48 minutes after the commencement of the examination, and that it was being circulated in Malda. This made the WBBSE authorities assert in writing that it was a planned sabotage.
Ramanuj Ganguly, the president of WBBSE, said that the exam centre from which the question paper was photographed and circulated, had been identified. “We have already identified the source (of the leak of the English question paper). The details have been shared with the district administration so that the persons who clicked the photograph (of the question paper), how it was sent, and to whom, could be confirmed through the cybercrime wing. We are waiting for reconfirmation,” he said.
The WBBSE authority believes that the image of the question paper was deliberately circulated to malign the state board. Officials of district administration, however, refrained from commenting on the issue.
On Saturday, images of a geography question paper did the rounds on social media. A geography teacher, when contacted, said that he was surprised to see the resemblance between the images on social media and the actual question paper. Board authorities dismissed the possibility. “We have not received any complaint on any leak of the geography question paper,” Gupta said.
