Soon after the news of All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) paper leak broke on Sunday morning,officials manning various centres in the city made frantic calls to the CBSE head office,(a nodal agency which conducts AIEEE exam) and to the assistant secretary of AIEEE unit to seek confirmation. The sudden delay caused chaos and panic among the students. The leak delayed the 10th AIEEE by almost three hours. However,the news could not be substantiated till 10.30 and students were left stranded outside the exam centres leading to protest at few places. After the confirmation,the authorities instructed all the centres to reschedule the exam at 12 pm on the same day with another set of question papers. Meanwhile,the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) said the paper was leaked and sold in the open market in Lucknow for Rs 6 lakh and one person was arrested in this connection. Rajiv Gupta,principal of DAV school,Navi Mumbai,said,There was chaos and panic initially,but we were able to control the situation. Our priority was to calm the students. After the paper leak was confirmed,we conducted the exam with another set of papers. A principal from a school in Andheri said,It was not clear which of the two papers was leaked. We got to know about the leak after one of the parents called us. We then confirmed it from the CBSE head office. By that time,students were allowed in their respective exam halls. There was chaos when we informed them of the paper leak and the delay in the exam. Anuj Majumdar,whose younger brother appeared for the exam,said,The school authorities were very rude and misbehaved with the students instead of pacifying them. Another student,Shantanu Sharma,said,I travelled all the way from Belapur to Boisar for the exam and as soon as I entered the classroom at 8.30 am,we were told the exam would be cancelled. But five minutes later,we were told about the delay. AFMC exam on May 8 for those who missed The Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) examination which was scheduled at 2:30 pm on Sunday was re-scheduled at 4:30 pm. However,students appearing for both AIEEE and AFMC examinations could not appear for AFMC exam. A press release by CBSE said another exam would be conducted on May 8 at 9.30 am for those who could not appear for the AFMC exam due to the AIEEE delay.
