Assam Director General of Police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh on Friday asked one of the main accused in the HSLC question paper leak case, Kumud Rajkhowa to surrender before the police.
The Assam DGP addressed the media today to issue an update regarding the ongoing investigation into the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) Class 10 examination question paper leak incident. Speaking there, GP Singh laid out the chronology of events as they happened in the case.
He said, “CID had filed a case and initiated investigation into the matter on March 13. We gave out directions to seal the every place where the question papers were kept. Directions were laid out to seal the question papers in the magistrate’s presence.”
The Assam DGP went on to say, “One of the examination centres in Guwahati reported to have received one fewer package of question papers than the stipulated amount. The package missing from Bhauri Devi Sarawgi High School is yet to be found.”
DGP GP Singh then informed about the arrests made by the police in the case. He said, “14 people were brought in for questioning in the last 24 hours. They were brought in from Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Dhemaji, Sadiya, Lakhimpur and Majuli. Later on, another 22 people were detained. So far, 27 people have been arrested and another four have been detained. Out of the 27 people arrested, 13 are minors. We held discussions on the entire case in Dibrugarh.”
“The main accused in the HSLC question paper leak in Upper Assam is Kumud Rajkhowa, a science teacher at Dafalakata Higher Secondary School. Another two accused, Prasanna Das and Pranab Dutta have also been detained,” he said.
The Assam DGP further said, “Of them, Pranab Dutta has confessed to his role in the entire case. We later came to know that Kumud Rajkhowa had burnt down a package of question papers at Khabolu in Lakhimpur. There we found traces of evidence supporting our case. We have sent them to forensic department for examination.”
Meanwhile, the DGP had earlier mentioned that the question paper was passed on via WhatsApp and the police were in touch with the company’s authorities. In that regard, GP Singh said, “We have written to WhatsApp for their cooperation in the investigation.”
Turning his attention back to the case, he went on saying, “The supervisor at the Centre received 29 packages but only 28 packages were registered. Kumud Rajkhowa had kept a package aside. That package was handed to Prasanna Dutta. Kumud Rajkhowa had shared the question paper to his school’s WhatsApp group.”
However, the Assam DGP mentioned that they did not find anything connecting any Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) employee to the case. GP Singh said, “So far, we have not found any SEBA employee connected to the matter. If we have facts connecting them to the case, they will surely be arrested.”
