Pune: PAT III Question Papers Circulated Online Before Exams, Case Registered after Complaint by SCERT
Pune, 23rd April 2026: The Vishrambaug Police have registered an FIR against operators of six online channels for allegedly circulating question papers of the Periodic Assessment Test (PAT) III on social media before the examinations were held.
The complaint was filed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), which conducts the assessment for school students across Maharashtra.
According to officials from Vishrambaug Police Station, PAT III is conducted to evaluate students’ academic performance and aptitude in subjects such as Marathi, English and Mathematics. As per the exam schedule, the Marathi paper was held on April 11, Mathematics on April 15 and English on April 22.
The Police said that the question papers are prepared by SCERT, printed at a private press in Pune and then distributed to centres across the state. During scrutiny, authorities found that papers of all three subjects had allegedly been shared in advance through six channels on a video-sharing platform.
Police have begun an inquiry into the source of the leak and whether a larger network was involved. A senior police officer said that they are also examining how the papers were accessed, whether money changed hands and if more persons were connected to the operation.
