Prayagraj: A narrow dusty road in the bustling market of Teliyarganj Colony in the central part of Prayagraj city in Uttar Pradesh was unusually quiet. The only sounds one could hear were that of two-wheelers zipping past every few minutes.Among a few shops selling readymade garments stood a nondescript computer typing institute. The board on display outside the institute said that courses on the Tally computer language and artificial intelligence are taught there.Down the stairs, inside the computer typing institute, Vimal* was taking a History class. He had on a blue shirt with a label on the front pocket that said ‘Exampur’. The class was going to be a one-hour online session dedicated to explaining the advent of the Delhi Sultanate.“Following the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the reins of the Mughal empire had passed into British hands by 1857, a transition marked by the famous proclamation at Allahabad’s Minto Park in 1858 announcing the transfer of power to Queen Victoria”, Vimal told his students. Allahabad, of course, refers to Prayagraj, which was rechristened by the Adityanath government in 2018. And then Vimal seemed to change track suddenly. “These days some people are telling the teachers only to focus on their work of imparting education. But what needs to be kept in mind is that if something wrong is happening we ought to raise our voice”, he said, as if part of a monologue. “Do remember that the 1857 revolt was an unsuccessful one since the educated class was in oblivion,” he added, before moving on to the next part of the lecture. Vimal taking a class on Delhi Sultanate at the makeshift studio. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.The benches in front of Vimal lay vacant. This is because he is working from a makeshift studio. Most of his students were attending the lecture remotely, following it through a digicam as notes were displayed on a 75-inch smartboard right behind him. On the evening of June 4, when this reporter met Vimal, he had resumed teaching after a gap of a few days. On May 31, as reported by Dainik Bhaskar, three coaching institute premises were sealed by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) for alleged non-compliance of fire safety norms. Exampur Coaching was among them. The proprietors of all three coaching institutes have alleged that the action was targeted and came in response to their support for students protesting an alleged paper leak in the Lekhpal examinations. These exams are meant to hire lekhpals, who are village-level clerks in the revenue department, who are usually responsible for maintaining land records and keeping track of mutation entries that reflect the transfer of property.At a makeshift lecture studio, The Wire spoke to two faculty members associated with Exampur Coaching to understand their version of events and why they chose to support the paper leak protest. Inside a makeshift studio of Exampur Coaching. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.‘Batch strength reduced by 50%’“Sealing of the premises essentially means that we can’t take online lectures from our regular studio, so we are conducting classes from elsewhere,” said Vimal while talking to The Wire. “Currently, the situation is such that some places where we are trying to set up a temporary studio are saying ‘no’, fearing there might be repercussions because of us,” he further added. Following the PDA’s action, the strength of Exampur Coaching’s batches has been reduced by nearly 50%. Physical batches that earlier comprised around 400 students each have now been shifted online, with attendance now dropping to 100-150 per batch. The coaching institute had been equipped with smartboards and other study material which would have enabled the mentors to conduct what are known as ‘marathon revision sessions’ before the exam. With this sudden transition to online mode, those regular sessions have come to a standstill. The sealed Exampur coaching centre at Hashimpur Road also had 18-20 studios – giving them space that is impossible to find in makeshift classrooms.Vimal from Exampur Coaching, taking History classes. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.The lecture being delivered by Vimal was part of a series that were meant to aid students sitting for the UP Police Constable Examination, scheduled to be held between June 8 and 10. Nipun*, another Exampur faculty member who has been teaching since 2018, echoed similar concerns. “It was a symbolic march intended to ensure that those in power listened to the concerns of students,” said Nipun, referring to the candlelight march held on May 29 in Prayagraj’s Katra area. Around 5,000 students who had appeared for the Lekhpal examination on May 21 took part in the protest over the alleged paper leak, marching from Manmohan Park Chauraha to Chandrashekhar Azad Park. The protesters were also joined by candidates who had appeared recently for the UP Sub-Inspector Examination on March 14 and 15. Their demand was that the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB) release the scorecards without delay.Nipun and Vimal faculty members of Exampur Coaching. Photo: Akanksha Kumar. “What’s happening now is that with our institution being shut down, students have been forced out while teachers feel they are being harassed. On the one hand you are not generating jobs and now you have ruined the livelihoods of 400 people,” said Nipun, referring to the Exampur Coaching staff who, according to him, have suddenly been left without work. “Just see how we are being forced to conduct classes in secret? These are the conditions under which we are teaching,” Nipun added. ‘It was our moral responsibility to stand with students’On Hashimpur Road, two Uttar Pradesh Police constables have been guarding the sealed premises of Exampur Coaching since its closure. A notice board issued by the PDA has been placed outside the gate. It reads: “Important Announcement: This premises has been sealed as it is unauthorised. Breaking the seal, carrying out renovation work, or engaging in any transaction for the sale or purchase of this property shall be considered illegal, and action will be taken accordingly.”Hoarding outside PDA office in Prayagraj. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.As I was taking photographs of the notice board, one of the police personnel photographed me. He later asked which organisation I represented. A third police personnel stood nearby while I was speaking to a few Exampur Coaching staff members outside the building. “A couple of videos had gone viral after the Lekhpal examination concluded on May 21, suggesting that at a few centres, some candidates were coming out nearly an hour after the stipulated closing timing of 12 noon when the exam got over. This made students suspicious,” said a staff member associated with Exampur Coaching. Videos purportedly showing such incidents at examination centres in Lucknow, Deoria and Muzaffarnagar had gone viral on social media. On May 24, however, the Adityanath government rejected these allegations in a statement issued by the Information and Public Relations Department. “The Lekhpal examination has been conducted peacefully and impartially, yet some persons driven by malafide intent have been spreading misinformation, which is objectionable. Strict action will be taken by the police against such persons,” the press note stated.“Videos from a few centres had gone viral in which candidates who were exiting the examination halls did not respond when asked about the reason for the delay. Ideally, the UPSSSC should have conducted a probe into such centres and released the CCTV footage. Something should have been done to address this atmosphere of mistrust. Instead, it acted as a trigger for students who felt their concerns were not being heard”, said Vivek Kumar, founder of Exampur Coaching, while speaking to The Wire on phone. The Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC) is the body that conducted the Lekhpal examination. Digicam being used to conduct online classes. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.“We spend around 15-18 hours mentoring these students, so there is an emotional connection. Most of those who come to Prayagraj for coaching classes are from modest backgrounds, and we felt it was our moral responsibility to stand with them”, Kumar told this reporter when asked, why as a coaching proprietor, he had been so vocal about the paper leak issue. In another one-page notice pasted outside the gate of Exampur Coaching, the PDA has cited reasons for sealing the premises. “With respect to construction occupying an area of 250 square metres and comprising a basement, ground floor and two upper floors a notice dated May 11, 2026 had been issued informing you of violations under Sections 14 and 15 of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973”, stated the notice, dated May 30, 2026, addressed to Vivek Kumar.While Section 14 of the Act deals with rules related to development of land, Section 15 pertains to seeking permission from the concerned Vice Chairman of the Local Development Authority. Speaking to The Wire, Kumar denied having received an earlier notice. “We didn’t have any information [about the earlier notice]. The notice sent this time has raised concerns related to fire safety and the generator. If only 3-4 days had been given to us, we would have tried to resolve the issue,” said Kumar. ‘Notice was issued earlier’: PDA officialThe Wire reached out to PDA secretary Vineet Kumar Singh, but he declined to comment. Another PDA official, who requested anonymity and was associated with the process of issuing notices to the three coaching institutes, told this reporter, “Certain constructions require a fire-related No Objection Certificate (NOC), and a completion certificate is mandatory under Section 15(1) of the UP Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973. Notices in this regard were issued from time to time.”Office of the Prayagraj Development Authority in Civil Lines. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.According to the official, the most recent such notice issued to Exampur Coaching was dated November 27, 2025 “We have been following due process. Any construction within 500 metres of a residential area has to comply with certain rules and regulations”, the official added, when asked whether the decision to seal the premises was linked to the coaching institutes’ support for the students’ protest. “The law provides that if a construction is not built on government land, a drain, or encroaching upon a road or lane, the owner is ordinarily required to submit a revised map along with the prescribed compensation and penalties, if any. Demolition is the last resort,” said Kamal Krishna Roy, a senior advocate at the Allahabad high court.Roy, who is also a human rights activist, was among the prominent voices in 2022 following the demolition of Welfare Party of India leader Javed Mohammad’s house in Prayagraj by the PDA. The demolition came after Javed had called for protests over remarks on Prophet Muhammad made by then BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. As reported earlier by NewsClick, Roy, who represented Javed Mohammad, had alleged that the PDA served a backdated demolition notice after the Uttar Pradesh Police named Javed as a key accused in an FIR.‘We have started batches at Re 1, you can call me shiksha mafia’In less than a week since students called for protests over an alleged paper leak in the Lekhpal examination, a public meeting by AAP leader Sanjay Singh at Prayagraj’s Circuit House on the issue was disrupted, and two student leaders who led the protests – Pankaj Pandey and Ashutosh Pandey – were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police.Third coaching centre, Super Climax Institute, sealed by PDA. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.On June 1, a second candlelight march had been planned by the protesting students. However, following the arrests of the student leaders, the designated spot in Prayagraj’s Govindpur area was empty by the time this reporter reached it that evening, with no sign of any student protesters. A call has since been given for a larger protest over the paper leak issue in Lucknow on June 12.Advocate Roy, who was present at Sanjay Singh’s interaction with students on the alleged paper leak, had earlier told The Wire: “We were asking the officials and the government to put an end to paper leaks, but the government, in turn, was telling us to stop discussing the issue itself. The lights and air-conditioning in the hall where the meeting was being held were abruptly switched off at the behest of officials.”In a letter dated June 5, 2026, a copy of which was seen by The Wire, AAP leader Sanjay Singh urged the Rajya Sabha chairman to take action against Prayagraj ADM (City) Satyam Mishra. Singh alleged that the officer had attempted to obstruct the work of a Member of Parliament while he was listening to students’ grievances regarding the alleged paper leak and exam cancellation.Back at the makeshift studio, Vimal and Nipun are bracing for tough times ahead. Away from the air conditioning of their coaching institute, the duo is getting used to taking lectures under a fan with temperatures soaring above 40°C. They plan to continue supporting the student agitation if it continues in the days to come.Rs 99 online course being offered by one of the sealed coaching institutes. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.“We have launched batches at Re 1, Rs 11 and Rs 99 for students. You can call me shiksha mafia,” said Nipun, while talking about initiatives to aid students who approach coaching institutes. Cheap online classes at Exampur Coaching often attract as many as 1 lakh students in a single online session.“Still, there are students who come to us saying that they are not in a position to pay even Rs 99,” Vimal added.“If exams themselves can’t be conducted in a fair manner, what’s the point of teaching?” said Nipun.Scrolling through messages sent on his WhatsApp number by competitive exam aspirants, Nipun stopped at a message which had left him highly disturbed. “Just imagine, for a student who has gone to give an exam, it is his last attempt [going by age restrictions in examinations], and then if the very same paper is leaked, his entire life is spoiled,” Nipun added.On his mobile phone, he then showed this reporter a text message from a student which had prompted him to rush to his counsel.Underneath a video of an exam centre in Prayagraj being ransacked following allegations of a paper leak in the SSC GD examination recently, the student had texted Nipun: “Prayagraj ka event. Eske liye kya karna chahiye. Suicide kar lena chahiye? (This, referring to the paper leak, happened in Prayagraj. What should be done? Should one commit suicide?)”A motivational quote painted inside the makeshift lecture studio. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.The Wire had reached out to the proprietors of the other two coaching institutes – Maroof Ahmad (Super Climax Coaching) and Ravi Tiwari (Target One Coaching). While they initially agreed to talk, their phone numbers were switched off when this reporter followed up for their responses. *Some names have been changed to protect identities.If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers they can call to speak in confidence. Icall, a counselling service run by TISS, has maintained a crowdsourced list of therapists across the country. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.