Patna, Jan. 4: The CBI exposed the leak of question papers for a railway examination leading to the cancellation of the test to be taken today by 2.76 lakh candidates across four states.

The detection follows the bureau’s revelation last November that question papers for the Common Admission Test (CAT) to the Indian institutes of management had been leaked.

Chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board here Pramod Kumar said the group-D examination for selection of 10,000 gangmen will be held at a later date, for which the railways will extend free travel facility to all candidates.

A railway ministry spokesman said in Delhi: “We received the news late last night and we have cancelled the exams for the group-D post that were to be held today. The fresh date will be notified soon.”

The examination was cancelled after a hand-written question paper provided by an informer, which was forwarded by the Patna unit of the CBI to Kumar, tallied with the original. Sources said the CBI got the information last night, but succeeded in getting hold of the question paper this morning.

The railway vigilance department has begun a probe into the leak, the sources said, adding that the CBI was looking into the criminal aspect of it. No arrests have been made yet.

“The internal inquiry would be conducted parallel to the CBI investigation. We would not like to comment on any other aspect since the matter is under investigation,” the ministry spokesman said.

CBI sources said in case it is a matter of simple pilferage of question papers, the local police would investigate it.

“A few heads could roll in the zone responsible for conducting the exams. There was enough indication in our discussion with the minister on the issue, but that may happen only after the internal inquiry is completed,” said a senior railway board member.

The cancellation triggered protests outside the railway board office and several centres here with candidates, many of whom had come from far off places, braving the extreme cold conditions, pelting stones, burning tyres, shouting slogans against the railway minister and even trying to ransack some offices.

The examination was to be held at 245 centres within the state and at Ranchi, Lucknow, Dhanbad and Asansol.

In Ranchi, aspirants had poured in from Bihar, Bengal and Orissa to take the two-hour test, scheduled to begin at 10 am.

Officials at Ranchi said that at 9.30 am, the centres were told by the local railway recruitment board unit that the test has been cancelled and candidates should be informed immediately.

The examinees were taken aback by the news. Some of them even refused to submit their answersheets.

Confusion reigned as only a few centre superintendents put up written notices about the cancellation of the test.

The Patna CBI is probing the leak of questions for the CBSE pre-medical entrance test, said to have been orchestrated by Ranjit Singh, who is also suspected to be the mastermind behind the CAT scam.

The CBI is believed to have sniffed the railway question paper leak during the interrogation of Singh and many of his associates and beneficiaries.