"Our Hero Kalan school head Nachhatar Singh had gone to collect question papers from the board officials. He waited till 6 pm, but the school carton was not there," said Mansa District Education Officer (DEO) Harbans Singh Sandhu.

The DEO, later in the evening, claimed that the officials of board, who were asked to probe the matter, had cracked the case and the carton meant for Hero Kalan school was recovered from Bareta school. "Code number of Bareta school was wrongly put by board officials on two cartons and the one meant for Hero Kalan village was taken away by Bareta school principal," the DEO claimed.

Intriguingly, PSEB chairman Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, when contacted, claimed that all the cartons "were intact". He denied that the carton meant for Hero Kalan village was recovered from Bareta school. When told that the DEO had claimed the recovery of the carton by board officials in the evening, an ostensibly-perturbed Dr Dhillon said, "Tell the DEO to call me. Nothing of that sort happened. I have cross-checked with my officials. All cartons were intact. No carton has been recovered from Bareta. I will seek an explanation from the DEO."

Bareta Girls' School principal Usha Rani's husband Piara Lal, who is also principal of Government School, Budhlada, said, "The board officials had taken away the carton meant for Hero Kalan School from Bareta School."

"Bareta Girls' School had got two cartons with code numbers 5641/12 A and 5641/12 B. The second carton belonged to Bareta. And when the board officials opened the other carton, separate sets of question papers, bearing code number 5612/12, were found. These question papers were meant for the Hero Kalan school," said Piara Lal.

Earlier in the day, Darshan Sharma, Mansa PSEB Depot Manager, said, "I cannot give any information. The investigation is on."