Karimnagar police on late Tuesday have taken BJP State president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar into preventive custody from his residence and shifted him to the Bommala Ramaram police station in Yadadri Bhongir district.According to police, the BJP State chief was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Class X (SSC) Hindi question paper leak.
Mild tension prevailed at his residence after his family members and party workers resisted the arrest.According to sources, Sanjay has lodged a complaint with the Lok Sabha Speaker’s office alleging that he was ‘arrested after midnight without a warrant’.
Earlier in the day, the police arrested Mautam Shiva Ganesh, a driver, Booram Prashanth, a former journalist and currently a BJP worker, and a 16-year-old boy.They were booked under Section 5 of the Telangana Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractice and Unfair Means) Act.One more accused, Mahesh, who works at Kakatiya Medical College, is yet to be arrested.
According to the police, the question paper of Class X (SSC) board exam in Telangana found its way to a WhatsApp group after a student who appeared for the Hindi exam at a centre in Hanumakonda district gave it to a friend who had scaled a boundary wall to enter the exam centre.
The friend took a photo of the paper and shared it with the student’s brother on WhatsApp.
The friend, a minor, scaled the compound wall of the Zila Parishad High School (ZPHS) under Kamalapur police station limits.
After taking a photograph of the question paper on his mobile phone, he sent it to Shiva Ganesh, who posted the question paper in a local WhatsApp group (SSC 2019-21).
Mahesh, the accused who is yet to be arrested, also saw the message and forwarded it to Booram Prashanth, who then forwarded it with the caption “Breaking News – SSC Question Paper Leaked”.
He in turn shared the paper in various groups and also sent it to Bandi Sanajay Kumar at 11:19 am.
“As Education Department officials complained to the police, the investigation carried out by the Cyber department and the local police identified the accused,” Warangal Commissioner AV Ranganath said.As the document was shared in a WhatsApp group at 9.59 am, there was no way it would reach candidates who were in the examination halls with no access to WhatsApp, Ranganath said.“It appears that Prashanth intentionally created and shared some messages to cause panic by stating that the question paper was leaked,” said Ranganath.“But it was not at all a leak since it happened after 9.30 am,” the commissioner said.
