900 JAC matric answer sheets damaged in suspicious fire at Dumka evaluation centre

Ranchi: A suspicious fire at Sri Ramakrishna Ashram Plus Two High School in Dumka damaged around 900 answer sheets of the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) matriculation examination late on Friday night. Of these sheets, 200-250 were completely destroyed while others sustained partial damage. The origin of the mysterious fire is yet to be ascertained, according to officials, who have filed an FIR in the case.

Sources said some culprits started the fire targeting the answer sheet storage room.

The school, one of four official evaluation centres for the examination in the district, reported the incident when the guard alerted Priyanka Kumari, the centre's director and acting headmistress. District education officer (DEO) Bhootnath Rajwar confirmed fire and the damaged answer sheets had already been evaluated and were stored separately from the pending ones.

He said, "The evaluated copies were kept in a separate room from those awaiting assessment, which fortunately remained unaffected."

Upon receiving the alert, the centre's director Kumari, along with teachers, DEO Rajwar, police officers, and other authorities, rushed to the site. The fire had been extinguished by the time they arrived.

Dumka DC Anjaneyulu Dodde said, "Security has been enhanced at all four evaluation centres with 24/7 police deployment following the incident. We cannot make definitive statements about the fire until the investigation concludes."

An FIR has been registered, and authorities are reviewing nearby CCTV footage as part of the investigation. Initial findings suggested a possible deliberate attempt to target the answer sheet storage room, sources said.