College panel’s complaint named the four: Police book Bhavnagar college principal, 3 students for B.Com paper leak

Bhatt stated in his complaint that the college principal leaked the paper for “personal gains” in collusion with the three students. After receiving a sealed cover of question papers, Galani failed to put the cover in the strong-room with CCTV surveillance. Instead, he took it to his chamber where there was no surveillance. “With an intention to leak the paper, he (the principal) broke the sealed cover open and clicked photos of the paper in his mobile phone between 12:45 pm and 3:13 pm. Afterward, he intentionally gave the mobile phone with photos of the paper to Srushti Borda, a student who lived in the hostel and whom he knew well,” the FIR quotes the MKBV registrar as saying.

Borda asked fellow student Makwana to click photos of the question paper on the principal’s mobile phone and send them to Ladumor, another student, via WhatsApp. However, after taking photos of the question paper from the principal’s phone, Makwana shared them with Yashpalsinh Gohil from Malpara village of Bhavnagar and one Rahul Dangar.

The FIR notes that after the paper went viral on social media, a copy of it reached Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Yuvrajsinh Jadeja who flagged it on Twitter on April 2.

Police said Galani, Ladumor and Makwana have been detained. “The principal turned up at the police station with his mobile phone on Monday saying his mobile phone was misused by some students to leak the paper. However, the principal was not supposed to click photos of the question paper on his phone and he cannot escape criminal liability saying someone else misused his mobile phone later on,” police inspector PD Parmar of Nilambaug police station said, adding, “We had launched an inquiry after an officer of the Bhavnagar university gave an application following Yuvrajsinh Jadeja’s tweet on Sunday claiming the paper had been leaked. Therefore, we have detained the principal and two students–Ajay Ladumor and Vivek Makwana. We have sent them to get their Covid-19 tests done. If they test negative, we shall arrest them.”

Since the examination is over, Borda, who used to live in the college hostel, has left for her native place. “But we shall arrest her also,” said the police inspector.

On April 2, Jadeja had alleged that copies of the paper had started circulating on social media at 3:12 pm on April 1, minutes before the commencement of the exam at 3:30 pm.

Following the AAP leader’s allegations, MKBU vice-chancellor (VC) had formed a three-member inquiry committee, comprising Bhatt, Dean of Faculty of Homeopathy Prof Girish Vaghani and Dean of Faculty of Marine Science Department Prof Indra Gadhvi. The panel submitted an interim report Monday and the final report Tuesday based on which an FIR was registered at the Nilambaug police station under IPC Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 114 (abettor present when crime is committed) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intent) and under Information Technology Act’s Sections 72 (breach of confidentiality and privacy) and 72A (disclosure of information in breach of lawful contract).

“We had also called Jadeja for getting his statement recorded after he alleged that the paper had been leaked. He responded and got his statement recorded on Monday,” Parmar said.

Located at the Kalvibid area of Bhavnagar city, GL Kakadia College of Commerce and Management is a self-financed college that is part of Sardar Patel Educational Institute, a reputed self-financed educational campus in the city.

Following the revelations, Bhatt said MKBU has withdrawn Galani’s recognition as a teacher and de-listed Kakadia college as an examination centre. “We shall also send a proposal to the executive council of MKBU seeking termination of Galani’s college affiliation to our varsity,” said Bhatt.