MUMBAI: A complaint was filed with the cyber police on Tuesday, a day after an inquiry into the expletives printed on the exam forms of a few third year students of Information Technology (IT) at the Government Polytechnic, Bandra, revealed that the forms were tampered with outside the college system.

The principal of the institute, Nitiket Mhala, submitted the report to the joint director (Technical Education), Pramod Naik, stating that the objectionable text did not originate from the institution’s portal, and that the registration forms had been tampered with after it was officially generated. Based on the report, Mhala filed a complaint with the cyber police.

On Monday, the students claimed they could not take the first exam of the fifth semester as hall tickets were not issued to them since swear words had appeared in place of their names on the pre-filled exam form, a week ago. Taking note of the incident, higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil ordered an investigation into the matter.

Following his directions, Naik asked the college to set up an inquiry committee, which reviewed the system’s logs and verified the students’ statements. The college claimed that the examination started on November 17 and no student was barred from it. The report stated that the committee found no objectionable content on the college’s system and that the students submitted a written statement confirming that the offensive text did not appear on their personal printouts.

After the course of events, Naik instructed Mhala to lodge a complaint at the cyber cell so that the source of the tampering can be traced.