The Hindu : Kerala News : Question paper leak: `fictitious' firm got contract

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Question paper leak: `fictitious' firm got contract

By G. Anand

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 2 . The Crime Branch police probing the SSLC question paper leak have found out that the Rs. 90-lakh contract for printing the question papers was given to a private press that existed only on paper in Chennai.

The police are investigating one Chacko of `Geeta Press' in connection with the case. Official sources said Chacko, who hails from Thiruvalla, was settled in Chennai for the past 20 years. The so-called `Geeta Press' is in the name of his wife.

An official said Chacko had gained the contract for printing the question papers in the name of `Geeta Press' in 2002. The actual printing of the question papers was done in another private press identified by the Crime Branch as Viswanathan Printers, Chennai. A senior Crime Branch official said the investigation so far had found out that the owners of `Geeta Press' had no machinery or infrastructure to execute the contract anywhere in Tamil Nadu.

A Crime Branch official said it was for the Education Department to find out which official was responsible for awarding the SSLC question paper-printing contract. It was for the department to inquire as to what criteria were applied in awarding such a sensitive work. The agency is probing whether Chacko was the benami of any person in Kerala. The investigators also found serious lack of security and confidentiality in the private press in Chennai where the question papers were printed.

Meanwhile, Sindhu, who was arrested from Chennai in connection with the SSLC question paper leak, has told the police that it was not SSLC question paper copies but cheque leaves that she had sent by courier to her sister, Bindu, in Kerala. The Crime Branch has found several inconsistencies in her statement. The investigators are verifying her bank accounts and other transactions in Chennai. It has been found that she had paid Rs. 23.50 to the courier agency for delivering the "suspect packet" to her sister.

Teachers grilled

The Crime Branch today questioned several teachers, including those working in private tutorials. The copy of the Social Sciences-II question paper that was leaked to a regional newspaper on March 18 had all the answers written on the sheet. The investigators today compared the handwriting of several teachers with that found on the leaked question paper.

The police are also following a lead that some girl students in a school in East Fort had received the Photostat copies of several SSLC question papers. So far, the Crime Branch has found no other channel of leak. "It is likely that the girls got the question papers from the school student whose mother was arrested earlier," an official said.

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