The principal of the Hazaribagh school, where investigators suspect the NEET-UG leak originated from, has told The Indian Express that a digital lock on two boxes containing question papers did not open at 1.15 pm on May 5 as it was supposed to, because of which they had to use a cutter.
According to officials, the boxes come with two locks – one is manual, and the other digital. While there is a key and cutter to open the former, the latter is supposed to unlock automatically 45 minutes before the examination. At Oasis School in Hazaribagh, this did not happen.
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When Ehsanul Haque, the school principal and the Hazaribagh district coordinator designated by the National Testing Agency, called the NTA about what to do, he was told, “Cutter se digital lock ko kaat do (cut the digital lock with the cutter).” Haque told The Indian Express that he conveyed this to the superintendents and observers at five examination centres, including Oasis School, where the digital lock had not opened.
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Imtiyaz Alam, the centre superintendent at Oasis School, and NTA’s observer Vishwa Ranjan corroborated this.
“Digital locks were also used in the previous NEET-UG exams, and there was a beep that indicated they were open. This year we were surprised when they didn’t unlock. We alerted our city coordinator Ehsanul Haque, he contacted the NTA, and we were told that we should cut it using a cutter,” said Ranjan.
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According to NTA officials, if the digital lock doesn’t automatically unlock at the desired time, then the protocol is to break the lock open with a cutter. “These are digital devices that can malfunction. It doesn’t necessarily mean these were tampered with,” said an NTA official.
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Explaining the process, Haque told The Indian Express: “I received an email at 1 am on May 5 informing me about nine boxes with question papers kept in two designated banks. At 7.30 am, five centre superintendents and five observers were handed over nine cardboard boxes, inside which were the aluminium boxes with question papers.”
The boxes, which come with a digital lock, and a manual lock. The digital lock in Hazaribagh across all centres did not work and had to be cut through a cutter, Haque says. (Express Photo)
Haque said that after receiving the cardboard boxes, the officials and observers headed to their respective examination centres. He said the boxes were then kept at each centre’s strongroom, guarded by superintendents, deputy superintendents, observers and invigilators.
Alam elaborated, “The boxes were being unpacked at 1.15 pm. The first layer is cardboard, which is torn open by a sharp object. Inside that is an aluminium box containing two locks – digital and manual. Inside the aluminium box, there is another cardboard box containing a seven-layered plastic envelope, which finally contains the question papers. The entire unpacking process happens in front of officials and two students who are selected randomly.”
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After the exam, a courier company appointed by the NTA took the OMR sheets in two separate aluminium boxes, which were sealed by manual locks, with the keys inside a yellow plastic packet stuck to the same box.
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Principal Enhansul Haque of Oasis School in Hazaribagh. He is also the city coordinator designated by the NTA for conducting examinations across five centres, including Oasis, in Hazaribagh. (Express Photo)
Alam said that on June 21, officials of the Bihar economic offences unit came to investigate. The EOU had found that the serial code found on the burnt remains of a leaked question paper in Bihar matched with the Oasis School examination centre in Hazaribagh. EOU officials took with them the two aluminium boxes which had the question papers.
Alam said, “We were told by EOU officials that the stickers around the aluminium boxes were not uniform, and the patterns of latches also differed. Also, the seven-layered envelope had a breach at one end and appeared to have been cut.”
