Bhubaneswar: The examination of Ability Enhancement Course (AEC) for Plus III second-semester students under Vikram Dev University at Odisha’s Jeypore was postponed on Friday after the question paper allegedly surfaced on WhatsApp ahead of the scheduled examination.

The examination of compulsory English under the AEC for undergraduate (UG) second-semester students was scheduled to be held from 2 pm to 5 pm at around 52 examination centres under the university. Following the circulation of the question paper on WhatsApp, university authorities immediately decided to postpone the examination to ensure its fairness and credibility.

According to University Controller of Examinations Ranjan Kumar Pradhan, some students approached him at around 11 am and informed him that AEC question papers were being circulated on WhatsApp. The students reportedly showed him four to five different question papers.

On verification, one of the papers was found to match the original question paper prepared for the AEC English examination scheduled for the day, prompting the university to suspend the examination.

All examination centre superintendents were subsequently informed about the postponement.

Pradhan said the university had lodged a complaint with the Koraput Cyber Police Station regarding the incident. He said the possibility of involvement of some miscreants could not be ruled out and that the circulation might have been intended to mislead students. However, he added that the exact circumstances would become clear only after a detailed investigation.

The university has advised students not to be misled by rumours or messages circulating on WhatsApp and to rely only on official information issued by the university.

The authorities are now investigating how the question paper reached WhatsApp and how the circulated paper matched the original examination paper.

A fresh question paper will be prepared for the postponed examination. The university will announce the new date and time of the examination separately, the Controller of Examinations said.