Union Human Resources Development Secretary Anil Swarup revealed the presence of a mafia in the education system, saying it runs deeper than even the coal mining industry.

Swarup who has previously been coal secretary, in an interview to a TV news channel said: “In coal, the mining was underground and the mafia was above that. In education, the mafia is underground. We are grappling with that.”

The statement assumes significance in the wake of CBSE class X and XII paper leak controversy that recently rocked the country.

Swarup defended CBSE chairperson Anita Karwal, who has been facing flak ever since the question paper leaks were reported. “People were baying for her blood without understanding the facts of the case... At least prima facie, she did not have any role to play,” he said.

He denied the role of any CBSE official. “So far, there is no complaint of collusion... action will be taken against anyone found guilty.”

The CBSE had come under attack after the Class XII Economics paper was leaked, affecting lakhs of students. The government announced re-examination on April 25.

But it ruled out any retest for Class X Maths, which too was leaked after first announcing a re-exam for that subject as well.

Swarup said a random sampling of Maths answer papers in the leak zone revealed the performance was much worse compared to last year, which prodded the CBSE to roll back it retest plan.