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A handwritten copy of the original manuscript of the II Pre-University (PU) Mathematics question paper was first prepared before it was leaked at Chintamani in Chikkaballapur district, according to investigations so far by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The police has found in the course of its probe that the paper setter who set the Maths question paper was not responsible for the leak, though sources said that it could have been leaked once the original manuscript reached the PU Commissioner’s office where at least one of the ringleaders of the racket copied it before letting it out. The handwriting of the Maths question paper setter was found to be different from whoever copied the original.

The setters of the Maths, Physics and Biology papers, have been examined, sources said, adding that some of the officials in the PU Department’s hierarchy “will be questioned in the next two days” since they were not available immediately.

“The question papers changed hands several times before they were actually sold to the PU examinees,” a source said, insisting that the leaks could have taken place either at the PU Commissioner’s office or at the Kolkata printing press.

Making a handwritten copy of the original manuscript and not while the question papers were being composed on desktop computers, sources said, leaves little or no trail.

The usual procedure for a paper setter to set a question paper is to write out three different sets of the paper and then submit them to the PU Commissioner who, in turn, picks one set by means of a draw of lots. Sleuths pursuing the leak of the Maths and Physics papers suspect the hand of a “well-placed insider” in the PU Commissioner’s office.

According to rules laid down by the Karnataka Pre-University Board, “the panel of paper setters in each subject shall consist of three examiners, the senior most of whom shall act as the chairman.

It shall be the responsibility of the panel to set question papers in three sets of three answer paper each for the annual and supplementary examinations of the year.”

In this context, police sources suspect that the PU Commissioner’s office may not have followed the established procedure, leaving holes in the system that was exploited by the racketeers.

PU staff who have followed the procedure closely said that in most cases, the PU department selects lecturers based on “goodwill” and not completely based on seniority.

“We now have to find out whether the papers were leaked out after they reached the printing press in Kolkata where the PU authorities were getting all question papers printed for the past six years or it was leaked by one or more PU Department officials,” a police source said, adding that a team of investigators will be sent to Kolkata soon to conduct investigations there. The printing press is located close to College Street in Central Kolkata.

While earlier reports stated that a few lecturers of some private PU colleges distributed the Physics paper “free of cost”, the CID has found, at least in one case, about hundred examinees of a private college in Kolar paid Rs 5,000 for each copy of the leaked paper.