Jajpur, March 21: Examinees who had earlier failed to clear their High School Certificate (HSC) examinations and enrolled as regular examinees this year, did not appear for the examinations. These 126 students stayed away as they feared a crackdown.

The examinees had earlier failed the HSC examination and had enrolled as regular students at Panchayat High School at Badakaicchi in Jajpur district. They were appearing for the examination at Damodar Vidyapeeth in Achutpur under Dharmasala police station. As this incident came to the notice of Board of Secondary Education (BSE), a special squad arrived at the Damodar Vidyapeeth examination centre on Friday and questioned the candidates about their authenticity. The candidates could not give the squad adequate answers. Fearing a crackdown by the board authorities, they did not turn up for the examination today.

“Perhaps they were apprehensive about action by the squad members,” said Tapanabala Das, centre superintendent, Damodar Vidyapeeth.

The absence of the students from the examination has confirmed the BSE authorities’ suspicion about their authenticity.