Kochi: In a bizarre development, a stack of answer papers that went missing from the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit at Kalady almost three months ago have mysteriously reappeared at the institution.

On Monday, the University informed the Kalady police that had registered an FIR on the incident four days ago about the possibility of the answer papers being inside a closed cabinet of the examination hall.

University Vice-chancellor Dr Dharmarajan PK told Onmanorama said that they are still not certain if the papers are indeed there as the police have yet to inspect the scene.

"The section in charge had earlier said that it could not be found and that is when the complaint was registered. But now they suspect it could be there so we informed the police again," said Dr Dharmarajan.

Meanwhile, Kalady station SI Davis said they can only ascertain the find after a thorough forensic examination of the material.

"We will open the cabinet in the presence of a scientific assistant, fingerprint experts and the dog squad. Until their services are available the scene will be guarded," said SI Davis.

As many as 276 answer sheets from the third-semester examination on Sanskrit Literature that was held in January are missing.

The issue had come to light when the university sought the Sanskrit department to submit the grade sheets for tabulating the result.

Due to the COVID-induced restrictions, instead of a centralized valuation process, the answer papers were reportedly sent to the teachers' homes.

Later when the papers were not found, the university suspended the chairman of exams in the department, Prof KM Sangamesan.

The Association of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit Teachers had demanded the Vice-chancellor to withdraw the suspension order. Members of SFI had earlier protested demanding action on those responsible.