HSC board exam paper leak: Maharashtra forms SIT to probe case

Maharashtra Police have formed a Special Investigation Team SIT to probe the suspected HSC board exam paper leakAs reported by PTI the sixmember SIT will trace the source of the leaked papers and identify all persons involvedThe matter surfaced on February 18 during the chemistry exam at St Ursula High School in Nagpur when a supervisor found the question paper on a students mobile phone before the start of the examThe chemistry and physics question papers of Maharashtra boardrsquos class 12 exam were reportedly leakedIn regard to the paper leak police have so far arrested four accused including coaching institute operators While the investigators believe the paper was circulated through a WhatsApp group among students further investigation by the SIT may lead to the basic roots of the paper leakEarlier on February 21 screenshots of the Higher Secondary Certificate HSC Chemistry paper began doing the rounds on messaging platforms shortly before the exam commencedThe paper was allegedly circulated on social media before the examination triggered concern among students and parents As per the reports there are allegations that the paper was leaked prior to distribution at examination centresSoon after the incident was reported on Friday officials said that local police have initiated a probe to verify the authenticity of the circulated paper and to determine whether it matches the actual question paper administered by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSEFurthermore the Education Department authorities were also alerted Board officials also reportedly crosschecked the viral content with the original paper to assess whether there had been any breach in protocolThe Maharashtra SSC exam 2026 begins on February 20A total of 1615489 students from across Maharashtra have registered for the Secondary School Certificate SSC examination to be conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE in FebruaryMarch 2026 The examinations have already begun on February 20 Friday and will go on till March 18 WednesdayMSBSHSE will conduct the exams through its nine divisional boards at Pune Nagpur Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Mumbai Kolhapur Amravati Nashik Latur and Konkan Of the total students who have registered for this examination 865740 are boys 749736 are girls and 13 are transgender studentsThe official timetable was published on the Boardrsquos website on 15 October 2025 Registration has been completed through 23683 schools and the examination will be conducted at 5119 main centres across the state informed Dr Deepak Mali secretary Maharashtra State Board PuneWith inputs from PTI