PUNE, March 18 -- Fifty question papers of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or class 10 geography examination scheduled on Wednesday were allegedly stolen from the strong room at a school in Sangola town of Solapur district, raising concerns over handling of confidential board examination material. The theft came to light Tuesday morning when education department officials, along with the custodian, visited the strong room at Sangola Vidya Mandir to dispatch the previous day's examination papers. At around 8:30am, they found the lock of the strong room broken pointing to a likely break-in during the night. Preliminary investigation indicates that two packets containing around 50 class 10 geography exam papers are missing. The police said that CCTV cameras installed outside the strong room were non-functional at the time of the theft, leaving investigators without crucial surveillance footage and raising questions over maintenance of security systems. Given that the breach went unnoticed despite a local watchman and three police personnel deployed at the site, authorities are also probing the role of these security personnel. Senior police officials rushed to the spot after the incident was reported. Additional superintendent of police, Solapur rural, Pritam Yawalkar told HT, "Question paper sheets for the geography examination scheduled on Wednesday were kept in a custody room at Sangola Vidyamandir under the supervision of the block development officer. This (Tuesday) morning, it was found that the lock had been broken and two packets containing 50 question papers had been stolen by an unknown person. Further investigation is underway." Yawalkar said that forensic experts, a dog squad and fingerprint teams have been called in and the crime branch has joined the probe. "It has been observed that the CCTV systems were not functioning at the time. Security arrangements included a local watchman and three police personnel but the incident went unnoticed. Appropriate departmental action will be taken against those found negligent," he said. Meanwhile, chairman, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), Trigun Kulkarni, told HT, "It appears that the incident may have occurred due to internal conflicts. We are reviewing CCTV footage from outside the premises."...