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TOI : PUNE: The University of Pune (UoP) on Saturday postponed three papers of first-year B.Com by at least two weeks following midnight action by the city crime branch which unearthed question paper leak. The papers will now be held at 11 am on April 10.

Prashantkumar Singh, from whom a copy of the question paper was recovered, was subjected to some intense questioning when he confessed to having sold the photocopies to other five students. The five were picked up from a place near D.Y. Patil College at Sant Tukaram Nagar, the police said and added that the photocopies of the question papers were also seized from their possession.

They were identified as Sashantshekar Lilakant Jha (19) of the Wakad police lines; Dinesh Vishwas Patil (21); Chetan Sohanraj Rawal (20) and Amit Kailash Pathak (24), all from the Sant Tukaramnagar; and Amitkumar Radheymohan Yadav (21) of Pimpri. The absconding suspect has been identified only as Chandan.

Around Friday midnight, the police authorities got in touch with the UoP controller of exams M.S. Phirange and told the latter about the paper leak. Phirange rushed to his office while asking the police officials to meet him there to check the veracity of the seized photocopies and the original question papers. Assistant registrar Deshpande too was summoned at the office. Following a check, Phirange confirmed to ACP Nishandar that it was indeed an incident of paper leak.

All the officials then proceeded to the V-C’s bungalow around 3 am and after a brief discussion, it was decided that the exam for maths and statistics and computer concepts and programming be postponed till April 10, UoP vice-chancellor Narendra Jadhav told the Senate.

He said the incident was serious and highly condemnable. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: A couple of months back, the TOI (issue dated Feb 2) had brought out word-for-word similarities in the prelim paper for bachelor of engineering applied science-I (2003 course) at the Sinhagad College of Engineering and in the final exam for the same subject conducted subsequently by the University of Pune (UoP).

Both the papers were set by the same paper setter, S.F. Khairnar, who was permanently disqualified from being part of any engineering faculty related exam work, after a UoP fact-finding panel established him guilty of “unpardonable negligence and misconduct” in setting the university paper.

The fact-finding exercise was driven by the TOI exposé. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news stories on mobile. SMS TOI to 58888 Related Stories FY B.Com paper leaks, six held 3 FY B.Com exams postponed till Apr 10 UoP senate wa…More

TOI : PUNE: The paper leak of first-year B.Com optional subjects of maths and statistics and computer concepts and programming, cracked by the city police on Saturday, raises concerns about where the UoP is headed.

The police and the UoP officials remained clueless about the source of paper leak even 18 hours after the arrest of the six suspects in a midnight action and the ensuing meetings between the university and police officials.

The paper leak is not the only source of embarrassment for the university in the recent past.

During the October exams, the UoP ended up handing out 90-marks paper for the polymer chemistry subject instead of 100-marks paper for the polymer engineering branch. It was later found that the exam paper was set by a teacher not recognised by the university for paper setting tasks. The university was forced to declare that the marks scored by students would be converted in proportion of 100 marks.

Balasaheb Naik, the then executive assistant to VC Narendra Jadhav, was in trouble for allegedly running a college at Mandavgan Pharata in Shirur taluka. While a UoP inquiry exonerated Naik from the allegation for want of sufficient evidence, the issue failed to die.

The concern over incidents like these has led the Senate members to seek an independent cell for implementing exam reforms. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news stories on mobile. SMS TOI to 58888 Related Stories FY B.Com paper leaks, six held 3 FY B.Com exams postponed till Apr 10 Yet anot…More

TOI : PUNE: A question paper leak unearthed in a midnight action by the city crime branch, forced the University of Pune (UoP) on Saturday to put off the first-year B.Com optional papers for Maths and Statistics and computer concepts and programming, by at least two weeks. The papers will now be held at 11 am on April 10, the university has announced.

Six students, who were found in possession of the photocopies of the UoP paper late on Friday night, have been arrested and a hunt was on for one more suspect, the police said.

The university’s assistant registrar for confidential section Umesh Deshpande has lodged a complaint in this connection with the Chatushringi police. On Saturday, the arrested suspects were produced in a local court, which remanded them to police custody till April 2.

The postponement of exam has affected 37,644 students from across the university area of Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts, according to UoP vice chancellor Narendra Jadhav.

Jadhav, who made a statement at the UoP Senate meeting on Saturday, said the leak was suspected to have occurred from one of the colleges, which were to hold the exam.

“The police are investigating the source of leak,” he said and added that the sealed bunch of paper sets given by the UoP to the colleges, had been recalled for ascertaining the foul play. “We hope to get a clearer picture in a day or two,” he said.

The exam for the two optional subjects, along with that of the ‘Foundation courses for restructuring courses of first-year B.Com’, was scheduled between 11 am and 2 pm on Saturday across 186 centres.

Late on Friday night, an informer tipped Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Sangramsinh Nishandar and inspector Vijaysinh Gaikwad about a student selling the university question paper photocopies at…More

TOI : PUNE: Trying to drive a plush Honda Accord car proved fatal for 16-year-old Yuvraj Bhojraj Teli, a resident of Vishram Baug society, Senapati Bapat road, on Saturday.

Two of Yuvraj’s friends - Rohit Ramhari Ganage (16) and Kartik Devgi (16) - who were travelling with him in the car were badly injured in the incident.

The car Yuvraj was driving belongs to Rohit’s father.

The three friends were apparently on a joy ride when the incident happened on the Katraj-Dehuroad bypass around 2 am.

Yuvraj, who was at the wheels, lost control on the vehicle when another speeding car came their way near hotel Sadanand chowk and hit a streetlight pole.

Ganage and Devgi are eleventh standard students, while Yuvraj was pursuing his studies in Switzerland. Yuvraj had come down to Pune to meet his parents. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: The batti gul appeal made by the Pune Municipal Corporation and various non-governmental organisations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions evoked mixed response in the city on Saturday.

Many residential areas responded positively by switching off their lights at 8 pm. However, lights in commercial establishments and PMC parking lots and on hoardings continued to blaze on.

An appeal was made to all Puneites to switch off their non essential lights for an hour between 8 and 9 pm to mark the ‘Earth Hour’ observed globally.

Lights in prominent market places like Laxmi road, J M Road, Fergusson College road and Cantonment were not switch off and continued to glitter during the Earth Hour. All the hoardings too continued to blaze away.

Most of the street lights, neon signs, flood lights on hoarding, lights at malls were ‘on’ during the hour. Moreover, the flashy lights at most of the malls, hotels and big shops were also on. Most of the shopkeepers said that they were unaware of the initiative and were not willing to switch off the lights.

However, a tour of the city’s residential areas revealed that people in many parts like Shivajinagar, Shivdarshan and Parvati responded by switching off their lights. However residents in Dhayari expected the power company to switch off the lights for them and waited armed with candles only to find later that they themselves were supposed to do the needful! Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: The Government Railway Police (GRP) have rounded up 17 people for robbing passengers at the Pune railway station from January till mid March this year. By doing so it has claimed that “the Pune station is now free of robbers and thugs”.

During the drive, the GRP arrested five people for robbing passengers, five for stealing bags and other four for stealing mobile as well as pick-pocketing.

The GRP also detected an unusual case where one Jaydeep Mukherjee was using a fake identity card of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to travel free of cost and eat free food in IRCTC canteens.

Another accused Subhash Gorule was caught with a fake note of Rs 500, which he had used to purchase a rail ticket.

The GRP, led by police inspector Narsinh Bhosale, arrested five for robbing passengers.

The arrested are identified as Wajir Salim Shaikh, Adinath Patil, Prakash Jadhav, Rafiq Khan, Raju Mandal, Sachin Begi, Munna Shaikh, Ravi Chauhan, Jagdish Goyal and Chintamani Dhamankar.

They had stolen passenger bags. They also arrested four for pick-pocketing and stealing mobile phones.

The arrested are identified as Adinath Kamble, Santosh Waghmare, Vinod Jadhav and Chandrakant Bhoir. The GRP have so far recovered a stolen booty worth Rs 1.10 lakh, comprising laptops, bags, mobile phones and gold ornaments. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More