In a cover up bid that went awry, invigilators detained 49 girl students of class XII at an examination centre in Sikar district of Rajasthan for over 24 hours after mistakenly distributing a paper that was to be held on a later date.

After a furore over the incident, the Rajasthan government on Tuesday cancelled the Sanskrit exam that was to take place on Wednesday and ordered a probe into the matter.

It also ordered the release of the girls.

Official sources said that invigilators at Gramin Mahila Shikshan Sansthan had distributed paper of Sanskrit II, instead of Sanskrit I, on Monday but took it away after ten minutes when they realised the mistake.

Following this, the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education, Ajmer, decided to detain students at examination centre till April I to avoid leakage of the paper, according to an official.

State Education Minister Master Bhanwar Lal told PTI that orders have been given to release all students and postpone the paper.

He said it was a 'mistake on part of the examiners and students should not bear it'. "It would create mental stress for students if they had to stay there (in the exam centre) till the next paper," he said.

The next date of examination will be declared soon, a Rajasthan Board spokesperson said.