Karnataka chemistry paper leak: CM Siddarmaiah promises to punish guilty

Bengaluru: Following the uproar created by angry students over repeated 12th standard Chemistry question paper leak, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddarmaiah on Thursday requested for cooperation and assured justice.

He took to micro blogging site Twitter and assured of stringent actions against the guilty."I have understood the pain of students and parents. I request them to be patient and keep faith on us. I assure justice to them," Siddarmaiah tweeted.

"A stringent action will be taken on the offenders in question paper leakage incidents. I assure justice to the students and parents," he added.

The second Pre-University Chemistry (PUC) re-examination that was scheduled for today, following a question paper leak has been postponed.

After the paper leak confirmation, the exam was postponed for March 31.The re-examination, initially scheduled for March 29, was postponed following protests demanding the withdrawal of the re-examination.

Earlier in the day, the students and their parents staged a protest outside the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) and pelted stones at the PUC building.

The PUC examination took place on March 21 which was later postponed and rescheduled for today due to the question paper leak.

Preliminary inquiry revealed that the chemistry paper was leaked near an exam centre in a women`s college at Ballari, about 330km from Bengaluru, and at a state-run college at Malur in Kolar district in Karnataka.

The PUC exams in the state, equivalent to second year intermediate course or Class 12 in central schools, began on March 11 across the state.

As many as 6.5 lakh students will be appearing for this exams in the coming academic year.