The Vice-Principal of Narayana College in Tirupati is one of the two employees of the college who have been identified by the Chittoor police as suspects in the alleged paper leak on the first day of the SSC examinations on Wednesday, April 28.
The SSC Class X question paper for Telugu composite was circulated on WhatsApp groups in Chittoor after the commencement of the exam. District education authorities termed the incident as 'paper circulation' and not a leak as students were already inside the exam centres. The exam went ahead on schedule despite the question papers circulating on WhatsApp.
The Education Minister of the state, Botcha Satyanarayana, has denied any claims of a question paper leak and slammed the media for "unnecessarily spreading rumours and creating panic" among students and teachers. According to the minister, the exam, which was conducted at 3,700 centres in the state, began at 9:30 am. "
The District Education Officer (DEO) Sriram Purushottam said that since students and invigilators already inside the exam halls did not have access to mobile phones, the incident cannot be called a leak. He also added that he received information regarding the question paper circulation at 10:57 am. "A clerk took a picture of the staff paper at a school in Nandyal in the presence of teachers. The photo came out at 9:45 am after the exam started," he added.
A complaint has been lodged with the police and cybercrime personnel are probing the incident, the DEO reported. As per the preliminary investigation, Chittoor police have concluded that two persons, Giridhar Reddy, Vice-Principal of Narayana College and K Sudhakar Reddy, an employee of NRI college, in Tirupati, were involved in the case.
A case under Sections 5 r/w 8 r/w 10 of AP Public Examinations Prevention of Malpractices Act and IPC Section 408 has been registered.
