Mumbai university's TYBCom paper leaked on WhatsApp

Mumbai university's paper of Marketing and Human Resources Management (MHRM) for TYBCom students was leaked on WhatsApp on Friday morning. However, varsity officials took corrective action immediately and the examination went ahead as per schedule, with over 64,000 students appearing for it.

Just a little over 30 minutes before the examination, the controller of examination received a phone call from an unknown person alerting the officials that the question paper had been leaked and was being circulated on WhatsApp. "The controller received a call at 10.17am that the question paper of the TYBCom, semester VI, MHRM was doing the rounds on WhatsApp. When officials cross-checked, they found that it was the same paper," said pro vice-chancellor Naresh Chandra.

Soon after, the university informed all the centres and instructed them that a new set of question papers will be sent to them through the e-delivery system. "All the 223 centres were notified and sent a new set of question papers and password. The centres promptly made the necessary arrangements and reprinted the paper. According to our report, the examination started on time at over 210 centres," said Chandra.

The university said it will conduct its own investigation and has also registered a complaint with the police. "We will set up a committee to investigate the source of the leak. We have registered a complaint at the BKC police station," he said.

This is the second time that the MHRM paper has been leaked. The first leak was in 2012, after which the university had to hold a re-exam. "Due to the e-delivery system that we started recently, we were able to avert a bigger problem. Students at only two centres have answered the old question paper. So, the number of students affected will be around 600-700 only. A decision on this will be made by the board of examinations," said Chandra.

Deputy commissioner of police (zone VIII) Namdev Chavan said, "The university intimated us after learning about the exam paper being leaked. As per a preliminary investigation, that paper leaked somewhere in Kalyan. Following this, the university has given a written application to conduct an inquiry."

"No case has been registered so far. We will investigate and find out if the copy which is being circulated on WhatsApp matches with the original and then take action accordingly," he added.