124 students found mass-copying in single hall

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A flying squad led by the tehsildar found 124 students indulging in mass copying of HSC paper at a single examination hall in Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Secondary School (Ohar, Jatwada) on Thursday.

The tehsildar’s squad also found a Xerox machine in the office of the secretary of the education society, which is adjacent to the examination room in the centre. After panchnama, the tehsildar's squad immediately called the education department officer.

Education Officer (Secondary) Ashwini Lathkar said that the process of taking action against those involved in the case had begun.

The examination centre is 10 kilometres away from the city. A total of 387 students were taking the HSC Biology paper. A team of tehsildar Ramesh Mundlod, employees Shridhar Dandge, Ramesh Tambe, Ashish Chaudhary and Raju Sonawane visited this centre at 12.40 pm.

They found 125 students sitting in a single room, instead of five halls. A total of two candidates were sitting on each bench. The team seized the question papers of students after the examination. It was found that 124 students had ticked certain answers to the multiple-choice questions. It proved that this was a case of mass copying.

Later, bloc education officer Deepali Thaware, education extension officer Manisha Washimbe, and centre head Prabhakar Kakade reached the centre. An in-camera panchnama in their presence, was done. Tehsildar Mundlod has also given a detailed eight-page report about the case to the Education Officer (Secondary).