The Delhi Police's Crime Branch questioned the principal of a school, whose two teachers were arrested for their alleged role in the leak of Class 12 economics paper, again today, after which officials said they had not found anything yet to indicate his involvement in the leak.
The police are trying to find the link to the module in which handwritten papers were circulated days before the Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics papers.
So far, they have quizzed 150 people, including students and teachers, but they have not been able to trace the source of the leak.
Police are also looking into the possibility of loopholes in the process right from the time the paper is set to the time it reached the banks and subsequently from there, it is transferred to the examination centres.
"The leak could have happened at any stage. We are looking into the source of the leak. It is suspected that the leak happened between the time it was submitted to the banks and it was kept there for safekeep," the officer said.
A senior police officer privy to the probe said that so far, they have not found anything to indicate that the 55-year-old principal was in collusion with the arrested duo of Rishabh and Rohit, who had shared WhatsApp images of the economics paper with one Tauqeer, who was also arrested.
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"The principal was negligent by allowing teachers to open papers at 9am when the time for opening them was 9.45 am. But so far, we have not found anything to indicate that he knew of Rishabh's and Rohit's action," he said.
The principal was questioned a day before the trio was arrested and was questioned yesterday and again today but even the arrested accused said that he was not aware of the leak.
The police are mulling about writing to the Central Board of Secondary Education recommending action against the principal for alleged negligence.
"We have not found anything against him so far to charge him under IPC sections. However, there was negligence on his part so we might write to the Board to initiate action against him," said the officer.
However, in order to be sure, the principal was again questioned today along with the arrested accused, who have been remanded in two days' police custody by a city court.
Police also questioned the teachers of other schools who were in touch with Rishabh and Rohit to ascertain whether they had also received the paper from the duo.
The investigators also said that the source of the leak was anywhere between outer Delhi and Haryana.
"It has come to the fore that not many checks are in place in those areas. Since they are far flung, they are somewhat neglected by officials who carry out surprise checks. We are looking into places like Sonepat, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarjh in Haryana as the probable places from where the leak might have happened," he added.
The Delhi Police has lodged two cases over the leaks of the CBSE question papers.
The first case related to the leak of economics question paper was lodged on March 27, while the other pertaining to the leak of mathematics paper was lodged on March 28, following a complaint by the CBSE's regional director.
The examinations for the class 12 economics papers and class 10 mathematics were held on March 26 and March 28, respectively.
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