Jorhat, March 7: Dispur, under fire for the blaze that destroyed High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination answer scripts at Sankardev Seminary High School (Jorhat) on Friday, has decided to shift the remaining papers from the school (a zonal evaluation centre) to an undisclosed centre for safety and security reasons.

Over 12,000 answer scripts that had come from other parts of the state for evaluation to the centre (that did not have security personnel) were destroyed in the fire. The police suspect the fire was an act of sabotage as no signs of electrical short circuit or any other factor had been detected.

The incident led to massive protests by many student and other organisations in the state against the government and the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (Seba), which conducts the examination.

Secretary (secondary education) Ramesh Chand Jain told The Telegraph from Guwahati that the government, in view of the unfortunate incident, has directed Seba to shift the evaluation centre.

"After the incident, the secrecy of the centre has not remained though policemen have been deployed, and hence as a precautionary measure the decision to shift the centre has been taken," Jain said.

He said a five-member Seba team has been dispatched to Jorhat today to collect the answer scripts and shift them with adequate police security. Jain said the exact number of copies burnt was 12,587 out of about 58,000 copies sent to the centre.

Jorhat deputy commissioner Solanki Vishal Vasant said the team, led by deputy controller (examinations) Subhash Sarma, arrived here in the afternoon and the process of handing over the answer copies was on at the centre in the presence of an executive magistrate. Solanki said armed policemen would provide escort while transporting the papers. He said another evaluation centre in Titabar subdivision was functioning, where sufficient armed policemen have been deployed.

Jain said according to government instructions today, he had issued an order suspending the headmistress of Sankardev Seminary, Binu Gogoi Borbaruah, and inspector of schools (Jorhat) Hiren Gogoi, pending departmental proceedings against them.

He said tomorrow a showcause notice would be served on Seba secretary Kamal Jyoti Gogoi, asking why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him.

In a related development, the police today arrested the chowkidar of the school, Bipul Kakakti, a casual worker, who was picked up after marathon questioning for the last two days in the school and in police station. Kakati, who was produced in a local court, was remanded in four-day police custody.

Jorhat SP Amanjeet Kaur said Kakati's involvement has been suspected and his custodial interrogation was needed for investigation.