Email claims AIPMT paper leaked; CBSE files police complaint

Nagpur: The CBSE got a quite a scare on the night of July 24, when it received an email claiming that the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) question paper might have been leaked. Considering that AIPMT was to be conducted just 12 hours later, the central board panicked, more so because the July 25 exam was a retest after the previous one was scrapped by the Supreme Court over a cheating scandal.Sanyam Bhardwaj, officer on special duty (OSD) of AIPMT, said, “The first mail was received around 8.30pm on the eve of the exam. We filed a police complaint after receiving two mails from separate persons claiming the same thing.”
The exam was, however, conducted successfully amid high security on the scheduled date, but police investigations in the alleged leak continue.
While the senders of the two emails have not hid their identity and admitted that they had indeed sent the mail, they are not cooperating fully with CBSE. Bhardwaj told TOI that the problem came when these two did not disclose their sources. “Those two refused to share with us where they had got the paper leak information from. It was extremely crucial for us to know the source, without which we could not act. Since the email senders would not talk to us we handed over their details to the police through an official complaint,” said Bhardwaj.
What really worried the central board was that both senders of the email hailed from Haryana, the state central to the cheating scandal that rocked AIPMT in May. Bhardwaj said, “The registered residential address of both is from Haryana and that got us concerned. We thought that they will share crucial information with the police.”
The complaint was registered at Delhi’s Preet Vihar police station, where officials got cracking on the case immediately. Ratan Lal, station house officer, said, “CBSE approached us this week and we are looking into the matter. As of now, the persons who sent the mail say they based their paper leak claims on some things they heard. They apparently heard some random people talking about it and thought it was true. But the case is not closed yet and we are investigating further.”
The first AIPMT conducted in May provided a glimpse into the hi-tech world of cheating, where concealed electronic devices were used by candidates with others sitting outside the exam centre. The Harayana police are currently investigating the scandal, whose network is spread across the country.
Last month, TOI had reported about a Nagpur connection to the AIPMT paper leak case. Police sources said Parimal Kotpalliwar, son-in-law of former Umred MLA Vasantrao Itkelwar, was allegedly acting as the link between students writing the test and the kingpin of the gang that assured live solutions at a hefty price of Rs17 lakh per head.