Bangalore, March 31: The Karnataka government today suspended 40 officials in the department of pre-university education following the leak of the Class XII chemistry question paper for the second time in 10 days.

The chemistry exam for second year pre-university students (Class XII) was slated for March 21. It was cancelled and rescheduled for March 31 after the paper got leaked.

Protests by students and parents had forced the government to assign the investigation into the leak to the CID of the state police.

But today's exam, to be written by 1.74 lakh students across the state, was again cancelled after the CID found the paper had been leaked.

The chemistry exam would now be held on April 12, nine days after the state joint entrance exam on April 3.

Confirming the leak and suspensions, state primary and secondary education minister Kimmane Ratnakar told reporters that 40 officials of the exams section of the department of pre-university education were suspended, pending an inquiry.

Ratnakar said a three-member committee of top bureaucrats had been formed to probe the successive leaks.

According to sources in the CID, investigators found out about the leak around 3.30am today at two places in the state. Of the three sets of hand-written question papers doing the rounds, one had all the 36 questions of the paper that was to be answered by students today.

They were copied and circulated using a smartphone, said the source.

Minister Ratnakar later said the CID would seek the help of cyber crime experts to identify the source of the leak and punish the guilty.

But that didn't stop the Opposition from accusing the Congress government of inaction. Jagadish Shettar, the BJP leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, blamed the minister for the mess and demanded his resignation. "It's difficult to understand how all of a sudden two papers leaked in 10 days," he said.

Hundreds of students and their parents protested outside the office of the pre-university education department.