Maharashtra SSC paper leak case
In a major development in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) paper leak case, the Amboli police made one more arrest in the case, arresting another teacher from Aurangabad. The arrested teacher played a vital role in the case.
The arrested accused has been identified as Atish Ashok Kadam, he is the person who used to visit prime accused Feeroz Khan’s school, but later, on Khan's direction, he managed to provide 26 admissions to students from Thane, Kalyan, Murbad, Ullahas Nagar and other areas.
Interestingly, these 26 students never went to the Aurangabad school but they all used to get leaked papers with the help of Atish. The arrested teacher's name came into the investigation after the arrest of Prashant Parshuram Dhotre, a teacher from Badlapur.
According to police sources, Dhotre was appointed as a supervisor in the Mumbra school where the prime accused Feroz Khan was working as the vice-principal. Dhotre was brought by Feroz only for supervising the exams and the school did not have any documents of him.
Dhotre's phone was also used to leak the paper. Police found Dhotre’s number in the call data records of Feroz. Dhotre’s number was switched off since 6.00 am of March 20, post Feroz’s arrest.
In March, 30 minutes before the History and Political Science paper of the SSC examinations began, a supervisor of the Andheri-based school caught three students checking their phones and then reading books. When the supervisor checked their mobile phones, she found the question paper of the same subject.
After the question paper was found on the mobile phones, the teachers checked the phones of all the students and alerted the Amboli police immediately.
Looking at the sensitivity of the case, Inspector Daya Nayak led a team and started interrogating the students. Within ten hours of finding the question paper, the Amboli police arrested the trio, who are suspected to have leaked question papers to the students. The police also traced the gang who used to sell these papers for a price.
During the investigation, Feeroz Khan, Rohit Singh and Prashant Dhotre were arrested and now, another teacher Atish Kadam, was arrested from Aurangabad yesterday, police added.