Mamata orders CID probe into question paper leak in ITI exam

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today ordered a CID probe into the alleged question paper leak in the Industrial Training Institutes Entrance Examination, which was cancelled for the day and deferred to July 5.
"The CM has ordered a CID probe into the ITI question paper leak case. The CID has already taken over it," state Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee told PTI over phone.
Speaking about the issue, state's Technical Education and Training Minister Ujjal Biswas said that the scheduled ITI Entrance Examination was cancelled today and deferred to July 5 after question papers were allegedly leaked.
"The decision has been taken following complaints of question paper leaks in a newspaper," Biswas said.

"The Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) Entrance Exam in the state will now be held on July 5," Biswas said, adding that a total of 1.33 lakh candidates had applied for the examination this year against nearly 80,000 last year.
The minister, however, suspected the hands of CPI(M) in the question papers leak, describing it as a "conspiracy to malign the image of the state government".

Stating that a departmental probe was ordered into the case by a three-member committee headed by a Joint Secretary of the Technical Education Department, Biswas said that the committee has been asked to submit report within a week.

"Culprits in the case must be punished severely after the inquiry is over," the minister said adding that the examination was scheduled to select nearly 40,000 candidates for over 100 government and private ITI colleges in the state.
Earlier, a large number of students and their family members agitated before a number of examination centres protesting against cancellation of the scheduled tests just before it began during the day without any prior intimation.