Pune: Chatushrungi police on Monday registered a case against a 40-year-old man under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, in connection with an alleged question paper leak during the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune, recruitment examination.The FIR followed a complaint lodged by Vaibhav Sherkar, a technical officer at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai. The recruitment examination was conducted in May 2025 for four vacant posts of work assistants at NCRA’s Aundh office near the SPPU campus.Uttam Bhajnawale, senior inspector of Chatushrungi police, said, “Sherkar is working as a vigilance officer. NCRA functions with the TIFR and both are govt organisations. ”Asked why the complaint was registered after a long gap, Bhajnawale said, “NCRA officials came to know about the question paper leak in July this year. They investigated the matter and, after confirming the sequence of events, registered the case with us.”“Sherkar alleged that the question paper had been circulated before the examination and that the matter required investigation,” he said.Citing the FIR, Bhajnawale said, “Sherkar received information from a confidential source on July 31 this year that the recruitment examination had faced irregularities. He was informed that one of the recently recruited Class IV employees had received the question paper on a messaging application before the recruitment test took place.”“One of the contractual employees, who also worked at NCRA as a work assistant, took photographs of the question paper using his cellphone and forwarded them to a candidate,” he said, adding that the employees – the one who photographed the question paper and the one who received it – have been sent on leave by senior officers.Apart from Section 3(5) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, the police also invoked Sections 316(2) and 316(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in the FIR.TOI on Tuesday contacted NCRA officials and their response was awaited by the time of going to the press.
