2 more professors held,total 16

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said Thakre and Yadav were booked under Sections 5 and 6 of the Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices at University,Board and Other Specified Examinations Act,1982.

“We had reason and evidence to suggest Thakre and Yadav broke Sections 5 and 6 of the Act according to which a person entrusted with custody of the question paper should not disclose its contents to any person,or give someone a copy of it. The two communicated contents of the paper in an unauthorised way,” said Roy.

The two,and the 14 arrested in the case earlier this week,were produced in court on Friday and remanded in police custody till June 12.

After the leaks came to light,MU had approached the Crime Branch to probe the case.

Two papers – Basic Electricals and Electronics (BEE) Engineering for ATKT students held on May 26 and Applied Physics-II paper for first-year students conducted on May 23,were leaked before the exams. The police also learnt that the Applied Math-II paper was leaked on May 18.

Thakre and Yadav had initially been questioned in connection with the leaks after lab-assistant Sachin told investigators that Thakre,a paper-setter,had outsourced her work to Yadav. Sachin said he photocopied a handwritten copy of the BEE paper allegedly set by Yadav,which was given to him by Thakre to scan and send to the varsity.

Roy said police are yet to ascertain if Thakre and Yadav could be booked under the same Sections as the other arrested.

Roy also said the original manuscript of the BEE paper, the MU had provided to the Crime Branch,did not match with samples of Thakre’s handwriting.

Thakre had allegedly said she had not outsourced her work to Yadav but set the paper herself, Crime Branch sources said.

“The first look at the paper does not verify Thakre’s claims. However,handwriting experts will be able to reveal if it is her handwriting or not,” said Roy.