The Editorial Page: Dear students struggling with exam chaos and scams 10 FRIdaY, JUNE 5, 2026 journaliSM of Courage mUmBAI, lAte CIty, 18 PAgeS ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com dA I ly f r o m : A h m e dA B A d , C h A n d I gA r h , d e l h I , j A I P U r , ko l k AtA , l U C k n o W , m U m B A I , n Ag P U r , PAt n A , P U n e , vA d o dA r A REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 aCting president on india Visit exPressinvestigation who will be held accountable for exam paper leaks? don’t bet on it, records show most get away Number of exam leaks from 2002 to 2025 with candidate count above 1 lakh in each: 45. Number of cases that led to convictions: 2 shyamlal Yadav & Jay mazoomdaar l Poorscore New Delhi, June 4 FORTHE22lakhmedicalcollege candidates forced to put their dreams on hold until the nEET UG retest on June 21, for the 4 lakh CBSE students left in limboafterquestionswereraised over the new marking system, the real test now is not just of merit—butoffaithinasystem. The CBSE’s chairman and secretary may have been transferredbutoncetheoutragedies down, chances are few will actually be held accountable. That’s what the record shows. The Indian Express investigated the status of cases linked to 45 major exam paper leaks over the past two decades in which each exam had at least 1 lakh applicants or candidates. Thefindingsarestark:Onlytwo ofthesecaseshaveledtoconvictions. Most of the rest are either 24 Years (2002-2025) 45* job, education exam leaks Students protest in Delhi. Investigators warn leak networks are getting more sophisticated. ShreyA SInghAI reLaTeD rePOrT 45 major leaks, few top officials face action page 9 trapped in legal quicksand or have simply hit a dead end. If that’s an indication of the low level of accountability, consider this as an index of immunity: twooftheaccusedinexamleaks are now MLAs in UP. This newspaper scrutinised case records from 2002 to 2025, covering 27 job recruitment examsand18higher-education entrancetestsandschoolboard examinations, and spoke to investigators and senior government officials. The findings: At Arrested Chargesheeted Convicted (2 cases) In judicial custody 3.86 Zeeshan shaikh 110 Mumbai, June 4 138 171 80 business as usual By EP UNNY MAHARASHTRA’SSEXratioat birth has remained virtually stagnant over the past decade —movingmarginallyfrom896 girlsper1,000boysin2012-14to 899 in 2022-24. The headline number, however, masks a striking divergence. While rural Maharashtra registered a significant improvement from 888 to 910, the urbansexratiofellsharplyfrom 908 to 885. The decline in cities has effectively offset rural gains,leavingthestate’soverall gender balance at birth below the national average. * With at least 1 lakh candidates in each least 1,658 people arrested, 925 charge-sheeted,18convictedin two cases, 32 acquitted in two cases,and43stillinjudicialcustody.Andyet,onlyatinyclutch of senior officials faced action (see related report on page 8). Butmorethanthenumbers, it’s the human cost that stings: More than 3.86 crore aspirants »Continued on page 9 Sex Ratio at Birth (Girls per 1,000 Boys) | SRS 2022-24 l total SrB l rural l Urban 918 914 928 India 899 910 885 Maharashtra MaharashTra Over a DecaDe rural Maharashtra: 888 910 +22 l Across India, cities report more girls being born than villages. l In maharashtra, the pattern is reversed urban areas record fewer girls than rural regions. l maharashtra's urban SrB of 885 is lower than the national rural average of 914. l 2012-14 Urban Maharashtra: 908 885 -23 l 2022-24 Overall Maharashtra: 896 899 +3 »Continued on page 2 among 21 who perished in south delhi fire ‘Can’t forget her screams’: TISS postgrad, new job, a life cut short pallavi smart & drishti Jain insiDe Mumbai, New Delhi, June 4 insiDe setback for opp as dmk to skip india bloc meeting page 8 monsoon Hits kerala; Heavy rainuntiljune7, says imd page 7 FORSHRUTIkABaranwal,a25year-old from Bokaro in Jharkhand, the world was waiting. A post-graduate from the TataInstituteofSocialSciences in Mumbai, she had already landed a job in the city through campus placement. The Master’s degree in Water Policy and Governance was to be conferred later at a convocation. HiredbytheRubber,Chemical&PolymerSkilldevelopment Council, Shrutika travelled to page 9 police: owner went to Hotel, saw it burning and left At a condolence meeting in Mumbai Thursday. PAllAvI SmArt delhitocompleteinductionformalitiesandbebackinMumbai tostarthercareer. among tHe dead: kyrgyzstan woman waiting to go Home after transplant, Her son and motHer But that was not to be. She was one of the 21 who perished »Continued on page 2 { Marjane Satrapi • 1969-2026 } ‘What can i do to offer a little bit of a dream to people?’: Persepolis author dies of ‘sadness’ paromita Chakrabarti man, and the then 46-year-old waslookingforwardtothestart of the shooting schedule in InJAnUARY2016,MarjaneSa- Jodhpur later in the summer. trapi was in new delhi after It had been well over a decdays of location and talent ade since the publication of scouting for the cinematic Persepolis, her graphic novel in adaptationofFrenchwriterRo- two parts, about an Iranian girl main Puértolas’s comingofageduring Page 1 The Extraordinary the Islamic RevolJourneyofTheFakir ution and the IranWho Got Trapped in Iraq War but its an Ikea Cupboard that she was toweringsuccessnotwithstandto direct. She had got on board ing,theFrench-Iraniangraphic actor dhanush for the lead, novelist-and-filmmaker detalks were on with Uma Thur- clared that she had no interest New Delhi, June 4 anchor Marjane Satrapi took world inside post-revolution Iran, amplified sorrows, demands of its women. AP fIle In last 10 yrs, mutual funds avoided Rajesh Exports, LIC stake up 5 times to 10.8% 1,658 925 18 43 l Maharashtra’sgenderparadox MaharashTra vs inDia gold exporter under sebi lens crore aspirants In Maharashtra, cities are driving a worsening gender gap at birth l Venezuela, India in talks for long-term energy pacts to the art form any more. “I am like a car that cannot drive back. Once something is finished, it’s finished. You know all these people who get divorced and then get married to the same guy? If you want to getremarried,atleasttrysomeone new. I don’t like to go back to doing the same thing, so I don’t think I will make comic books (she preferred the term to ‘graphic novels’) anymore. It was very pleasant, I was very happy doing it, now I want to »Continued on page 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez in New Delhi on Thursday. AnIl ShArmA Rodriguez, Modi hold discussions; tech team to go to Venezuela: Puri shubhajit roy New Delhi, June 4 IndIA And Venezuela Thursday discussed “forging an energy partnership” and entering into “long-term contracts” as delcy Rodriguez, on her first trip to India after becoming Acting President of her country, held talks with Prime Minister narendra Modi in new delhi. Rodriguez took charge of Venezuela after President nicolas Maduro was abducted by US forces in a military operation in January this year. After meeting Rodriguez, Modi, in a post on X, said, “We had extensive discussions on expanding our cooperation in energy, critical minerals, technology, agriculture, health and people-to-people ties.” »Continued on page 2 george mathew & sandeep singh Mumbai, June 4 RAJESHExports,undertheSecuritiesandExchangeBoardof India (SEBI) scanner for allegedly inflating revenues by Rs 15.15 lakh crore over FY21 to FY25, was listed more than three decades ago in 1995. But domestic institutional investors, barring one, kept away fromitsstockforatleastthelast 10 years, according to shareholdingdataobtainedfromthe company’s website. A look at the domestic institutional holding in the Rajesh Mehta-promoted Rajesh Exports, a gold and jewellery ex- E. exPLaineD High revenues, low profits The Sebi action has cast a harsh spotlight on Rajesh Mehta’s stewardship of a company celebrated for its scale but questioned for its unusually thin profit margins. porter, shows mutual funds’ maximum exposure in the company was at 0.5% in March 2016; it has only dipped since »Continued on page 2