Monday, March 14 2005 12:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The arrest of two persons with a question paper, which they claimed to be of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 Mathematics examination hours before its scheduled start, created panic among students today (Mar 14, 2005), but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Jeevan Rastogi and his son Arpit were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in a raid on a coaching centre run by them in Chandi Chowk area of north Delhi, at around 13:00 hrs (IST), Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Prabhakar said.

They were selling a question paper, which they claimed to be of the CBSE Class 12 examination, which was to start at 10.30 hrs (IST)

As news of the alleged "leak" spread, there was panic among students who were preparing for the crucial examination.

EOW officials, with a photocopy of the "leaked" paper arrived at the office of the CBSE at Preet Vihar in east Delhi at around 09: 00 hrs (IST) to verify whether it matched with the genuine set of questions. 45 minutes later, CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly announced that the two papers were entirely different and that the examination would go ahead as scheduled.

"We have matched the seized questions with all nine sets of the paper to be distributed to students. Not even a single question matched and we will hold the examination, as scheduled," he said.

Ganguly said that the whole operation had been carried out by "mischievous elements" who wanted to make quick money.

"It was an unfortunate incident, which created unnecessary confusion and panic among students," he said.

The CBSE chairman said that the question paper seized from the father-son duo did not even match the structured pattern followed by the CBSE and "any serious student can tell at one glance that it is a fake".

He said that even if question papers had to be replaced for some reason, CBSE had the mechanism to bring in alternate sets within four hours in Delhi and eight hours in the whole country.

For a few hours, however, there was panic among students who reached their examination centres without being sure whether the paper would be held at all.

"We have prepared for this examination throughout the year and to be told hours before its start that the question paper has been leaked is really shocking," said Sanjiv, a student of Delhi Public School (DPS), Mathura Road, shortly before he got the news that the test would be held as per schedule.

Several parents also flocked to the CBSE headquarters to confirm whether the examination would be held or not.

Police sources said that several students were present at the Taxila Coaching Institute being run by Jeevan and Arpit Rastogi at the time of the raid and they were being questioned.