A student sitting for Tribhuvan University’s Master of Business Studies (MBS) examination has been found to have photographed the question paper inside the exam hall and shared it online, according to a police investigation.

The Central Investigation Bureau and its Cyber Bureau identified Abdul Sani Hakim, an MBS first-semester student at Thakur Ram Multiple Campus in Parsa, as the person who first shared the paper. Police arrested him on July 28.

The question paper surfaced online on July 24, shortly after the examination began, triggering an uproar at the university. A Facebook page published screenshots of a chat showing that the paper had been circulated during the exam.

The leak came at a time when students in India protested over examination paper leaks. Its disclosure in Nepal prompted some students and student organisations to call for the resignation of the education minister and university officials.

But a subsequent police investigation found that students themselves were also involved in circulating the paper, an officer involved in the investigation said.

The government has since filed a case at the Kathmandu District Court against six people, accusing them of violating provisions of the Education Act, 1971.

The defendants are Sandeep Singh, also known as “Sulav Sir”, who teaches management at KMC College in Bagbazar and Himalaya College in Koteshwor; Atul Kumar Mishra, 25; Hakim, 31; Rishikesh Prasad Yadav, 30; Khushbu Giri, 25; and Dev Nath Mahato.

Yadav, Giri and Mahato have been listed as absconding defendants. Police allege that they were involved in forwarding the question paper or answers through the group.

Paper photographed inside exam hall

In his statement to police, given in the presence of a government lawyer, Hakim admitted that he photographed the question paper while sitting inside the examination hall and sent it to a WhatsApp group.

“While sitting in the exam hall, I opened the MBS First Semester Exam group and saw a user named Sulav Sir asking, ‘Question paper?’” Hakim said in his statement. “I then took a photo of the question paper with my phone and sent it to the group.”

Hakim said another user also shared the paper shortly after he posted his photograph.

Police arrested Singh on July 25. He had also been providing online coaching classes to students preparing for the MBS examinations.

Singh told police that he provided students with coaching and study notes.

The WhatsApp chat that was made public shows an account named “Sulav Sir”, identified by police as Singh, sending a PDF file to the group. A student named “Keshav Bhatta” then asked, “Sir, could you send the solution too?”

Singh replied shortly afterwards: “I’ll also give you the economics [solution], so look carefully.”

Another student thanked him and described the group as the “best group” for people who were working while studying.

How the student joined the group

Hakim said he had enrolled in the MBS programme but had not studied seriously.

He told police that he learned about the WhatsApp group when he went to his college to collect his examination admit card.

“I had decided to sit the exam even though I had not studied,” he said. “When I went to the college to collect my admit card, I heard other students talking about a group where answers would be available. I was then added to the same group.”

Hakim also said he learned that the question paper for the Statistical Methods examination held on July 22 had been posted in the same group.

Atul Mishra, who was the group’s administrator, told police that he saw a student post the question paper just one minute after the examination began.

The group had 644 members, and investigators found that Mishra had also forwarded answers through it.

Mishra is also a student at Thakur Ram Multiple Campus. He has completed his BBS third-year examination and was awaiting the results of a first-year supplementary examination.

He said he had created the group to help first-semester MBS students prepare for their examinations, saying his intention was not to facilitate cheating.

“I created the group to help students with their studies, not to help them cheat,” he said in his statement.

Thousands sat for the examination

A total of 17,375 students sat for the first MBS examination, according to investigators. Of them, 6,746 took the examination at 11 centres in Kathmandu Valley, while 10,629 sat at 62 centres outside the valley.

Investigators said the question paper was able to leave some examination halls partly because students were not properly checked for mobile phones, smartwatches and other electronic devices.

Police allege that the three absconding defendants, Yadav, Giri and Mahato, breached the confidentiality of the examination by forwarding the question paper through the group.

Section 17 of the Education Act, 1971, provides for a fine of up to Rs100,000, imprisonment of up to six months, or both, depending on the severity of an offence involving a breach of examination confidentiality or conduct that undermines the integrity of an examination.

Tribhuvan University had also formed an investigation committee to examine the leak. The committee was headed by Professor Achyut Gyawali, with Pushkar Raikhala, deputy director of the Monitoring Directorate, and Mahesh Raj Ojha, a member of the Central Examination Management Committee, as members.