While the set of question papers were seized at Kaylani on Thursday night, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Examination took more than 20 hours to ascertain whether these had been leaked from the council or not.
The examinees finally heaved a sigh of relief at 7.30 pm, when the council declared there had been no leak, that the examinations will be held
according to schedule.
“The seized papers had nothing to do with the questions set by the council,” said Gopa Dutta, president of the council. “Those who are behind this are the enemy of education and they should be dealt with strictly,” she added.
According to Nadia police, one Prantosh Mondal was allegedly selling question papers of English B scheduled to be held on March 13. He was detained well past 10 pm on Thursday.
Superintendent of Police Hari Kishore Kusumakar said Mondal was produced in court on Friday. He has been sent to police custody for six days. The accused was arrested from a photocopier’s shop with a set of 13 question papers. The forged question papers had English Group B, (New Syllabus), Higher Secondary Examination-2008 clearly written on it, which made it look similar to the Higher Secondary question papers, the police said.
“Even if the question papers sold by the person were not related to Higher Secondary examinations, he can be booked for cheating and mischief,” said Kusumakar.
Police officers informed the council about the seizure early in the morning after which the latter sent a three-member team in the afternoon to verify the papers.