17 teachers booked after drone exposes mass copying in Class 12 exam at Beed centre

A case has been registered against 17 teachers after drone surveillance allegedly exposed large-scale copying during a Class 12 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination at a centre in Maharashtra’s Beed district, officials said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday — the first day of the Higher Secondary Certificate exams conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education — at Centre No. 224 in Chousala.

Authorities had deployed drone-mounted cameras as part of measures to ensure a “copy-free” examination process. The footage reportedly showed supervisors across 16 examination halls not only failing to prevent malpractice but allegedly assisting students in copying openly.

Following the incident, Beed collector Vivek Johnson ordered strict action. An FIR was registered at Neknoor police station on Wednesday night against 17 teachers, including the chief conductor of the exam centre.

The accused have been booked under provisions of the Maharashtra Universities, Boards and Other Specified Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, officials said.

The Class 12 examinations are currently being conducted at 103 centres in Beed district, with 45,247 students appearing this year.

In a similar development, police in neighbouring Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district registered an FIR against 23 persons, including invigilators, after alleged mass copying was detected during the HSC English paper earlier this week.

With PTI inputs