 Inspector Ravindranath Sapkale
of Thane Nagar police interrogating the peon Ajay Dhabade.
Pic: Sameer Markande On Tuesday evening, the Thane Nagar police arrested three college students and a peon following the latters confession that he leaked three Second Year Bachelor of Commerce (SYBCom) exam papers to the students in exchange for a total of Rs 4,500.
Police said the peon, Ajay Ashok Dhabade (27), a resident of Chandwadi, Thane (W), confessed that each student gave him Rs 1,500 for the three papers (Rs 500 per paper). I did it out of friendship, said Dhabade.
Inspector Ravindranath Sapkale said the Thane chief judicial magistrate had released the three students Mukesh Tripathi (19), Sandeep Kurpe (20) and Ramesh Dhanavde (19), all residents of Thane (W).
However, Dhabade has been remanded to police custody till March 3.
Police booked all four under sections 6 and 7 of the Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices at University Board and Other Specified Examinations Act, 1982.
Sub-Inspector R Bagal Kote revealed that police first received a complaint from V Arekar, principal of the NKT College of Arts and Commerce, Thane (W), after the fundamental course (FC) exam was held on Tuesday, the first day of the colleges annual exams. Arekar told police he suspected that the FC paper had been leaked.
A police team, under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner Nandkumar Chougle and Senior Inspector Praful Joshi, visited the college and questioned Dhabade, who then spilled the beans, including the names of the students who paid him. The students were arrested from their residences on Tuesday evening.
Aside from the FC paper, the advertising and commerce II papers had been leaked. The latter two exams were scheduled for the first week of March.
Dhabade had been working with the college for the past five years. He said college authorities had handed him the final question papers a week ago to make copies and he kept a set of each aside for the three students.
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