A day after filing an FIR over suspected lead of the Maharashtra Class 10 Mathematics Part-1 and Part-2 board exam papers one day and three days before the exam date, the Divisional education board has now taken a u-turn. Filed by an employee of the Pune divisional board, the FIR was filed on March 10 at the Shivajinagar police station and said that the papers shared online on Telegram matched the real exam question papers.
However, in a statement shared late evening on March 11, the divisional board said that the Maths Part-2 paper was shared on Telegram only after the completion of the exam, and no complaints regarding leaks of the Maths Part-1 paper had been received by them.
The FIR was filed filed against a Telegram channel called ‘Maharashtraleakers’. The Mathematics Part-1 paper was conducted on March 6 while the Part-2 paper was conducted on March 9. The FIR said that the Part-1 paper was shared on the Telegram group on March 5, while the Part-2 paper was shared on March 6. “On inspection, the paper shared with the group and the papers prepared by the Maharashtra State Examination Department were the same,” the FIR said. The group also offered upcoming Science-1 and Science-2 papers.
However, in the March 11 statement, Deepak Mali, Secretary of the Pune Divisional Education Board, said, “A message was received (on the Telegram group) at 4.56 pm on 06.03.2026 that the Maths Part-2 paper, to be conducted on 09.03.2026, would be available. A message ‘DM to me’ was sent to avail the said paper. After that, when the said link was verified on 09.03.2026 at 5.47 pm, it was seen that the suspect in the group had mentioned the password under the pdf of the Maths Part-2 paper link. When the said pdf was opened, it showed that the Maths Part-2 paper was available. The paper of Mathematics Part-2 was made available on the group after the Mathematics paper of that day…it is not seen that the papers of Mathematics Part-2 and Science Part-1 were available on the Telegram group before the commencement…”
The statement also said, “Similarly, this office has not received any complaint so far that the question papers of Mathematics Part-1 Mathematics Part-2 were circulated before the commencement of the examination.”
The FIR has been filed under sections six and seven of the The Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices at University, Board and other specified Examinations Act, 1982, section 72 and 66 of Information Technology Act, and sections 3(5) and 223 on the BNS.
Senior Police Inspector Girish Dighavkar of the Shivajinagar Police Station said, “State board officials told us that the information regarding the leak on March 5 was received by them on March 9. The FIR has been registered on the basis of that. We have blocked the telegram links and two teams have been dispatched for further action.”
Nandkumar Bedse, acting Chairperson of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), said that when their officials tried to purchase the papers for the next exam, they were not available. “This seems like a scam to extort money from parents. For the following examination which was science, we tried to avail the papers being shared. After the personal message is sent, the scammers ask for money before sharing the paper, and once the parent transfers money no paper is shared till after the exam. Therefore it looks like a scam. We have filed an FIR because there should be an investigation even if parents are being scammed.”
