Hyderabad: Less than 24 hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Telangana chief Bandi Sanjay was arrested, the Telangana Police said the MP from Karimnagar “hatched a plan” with the help of other accused to leak state board exam papers in a bid to defame the state government. A local court has remanded Sanjay to 14 days in judicial custody.
Sanjay was arrested from his constituency at around 12.30am on 5 March, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the state later this week.
The police have named him as the prime accused in the alleged Class 10 state board exam paper leak case. In a remand report filed Wednesday, a copy of which is with ThePrint, police said the question papers were allegedly leaked using a picture clicked from a cell phone.
“This is a case of pre-planned and evil-designed criminal conspiracy, malpractices in SSC public examination with an intention to create rumours and provoke breach of peace of ongoing public examination in the state,” the remand report added.
Besides Sanjay, nine others have been named as accused in the case including a few who were taken into custody by Warangal Police Tuesday, hours after the Class 10 Hindi paper was allegedly circulated on WhatsApp within minutes of the students sitting for the exam.
The police said Sanjay directed the accused to exploit the alleged leak of the Class 10 Telugu exam paper Monday, to ensure that a similar controversy could be recreated the next day for the Hindi exam.
Sanjay and the other accused have been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 505 (making statement or publishing report or rumour with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm), and 447 (punishment for criminal trespass).
According to the remand report, relevant sections of the Telangana Public Examination (Prevention of Malpractices) Act, 1997, have also been invoked against the accused.
‘Sanjay deleted chats, call records’
“We did not just arrest Bandi Sanjay because the accused forwarded a certain message. That way, messages of the Hindi paper being leaked were also sent to BJP MLA Eatala Rajender’s personal assistant,” Warangal Police commissioner A.V. Ranganath told the media Wednesday.
He added, “We found the accused talking to Bandi Sanjay over the phone a day before the leak; we also found certain chats. We do not have Bandi Sanjay’s phone yet, he deleted his chats and call records.”
The police will have more clarity once they “retrieve Sanjay’s chats”, Ranganath said, adding that the state police gave intimation to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about the BJP leader’s arrest.
Police said that the question paper was circulated from Kamalapur zilla parishad high school where one of the accused allegedly climbed a tree, secured a copy of the question paper from a student, and took a photograph.
The remand report identified the second accused as former media professional Boora Prashant who it said works with “NAMO — a frontal organisation of the BJP”. On Tuesday, Ranganath had said during a press briefing that one of the accused, Prashant, allegedly shared the Class 10 Hindi exam paper on WhatsApp with several others, including Sanjay.
“Fear is real in BRS.! First they stop me from conducting press meet & now arrest me late in night. My only mistake is to Question BRS govt on its wrong doings. Do not stop questioning BRS even if I am jailed. Jai Sri Ram ! Bharat Mata ki Jai ! Jai Telangana,” Sanjay tweeted prior to his arrest.
His remarks were aimed at the BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi), the Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao-led ruling party in Telangana.
On Wednesday, state police also took the three BJP MLAs in Telangana, namely Eatala Rajender, Raja Singh, and Raghunandan Rao into preventive custody. The legislators were on their way, separately, to the Bommalaramaram mandal police station in Yadadri district where Sanjay was kept for some time by the police.
Meanwhile, Telangana IPS Association has appealed to Telangana Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy to initiate action against BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao for calling state Director General of Police (DGP) Anjani Kumar a “Bihari goonda (goon)” in response to Sanjay’s arrest.
The actions come at a time when the state BJP is gearing up for PM Modi’s visit to Hyderabad on 8 April to flag off the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express. During his visit, the Prime Minister will also perform bhoomi pooja for development projects worth Rs 11,000 crore.
‘BRS has touched raw nerve’
Reacting to Sanjay’s arrest, BJP national general secretary B.L. Santhosh said in a tweet Wednesday, “Rattled , riddled with corruption charges , facing electoral reverses @BRSparty & its leadership is a sinking boat . They have touched a raw nerve by arresting @BJP4Telangana. State President & MP @bandisanjay_bjp. This will be the last nail on their political existence.”
Sources in the state BJP told ThePrint that party chief J.P. Nadda has advised them to proceed on the issue “legally”. Sources added that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also informed about the situation.
BJP leader and former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy said the party will make a representation to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and seek the imposition of President’s rule in Telangana.
Meanwhile, BRS leaders insisted that Sanjay had a role in the paper leak and accused him of using students to gain political mileage.
“They (BJP) do not have the guts to fight with KCR directly and they’re using students for it. Papers were leaked on Sanjay’s orders. He called Prashant (one of the accused) on 3rd (a day before Hindi exam) and said that he wants papers to be leaked. There should be a PD Act (The Telangana Preventive Detention Act, 1970) case on Sanjay,” said BRS MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy.
BRS whip and MLA Balka Suman even alleged a conspiracy behind the paper leak issue, claiming that this was an attempt by the BJP to create a stir ahead of Modi’s visit to the state.
Just last month, paper leaks in Telangana State Public Service Commission exams came to light, stirring a row in the state’s political circles. The leaks also prompted the Opposition to protest and accuse the government of inefficiency for failing to conduct exams properly.
Bandi Sanjay and Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy, who had been lashing out at the government for the paper leaks, have also been served notices by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the issue, asking them to appear for questioning in connection with statements they made in the media and on public platforms regarding the leak. The SIT has so far made 15 arrests in connection with the case.
“BJP’s Paper leak conspiracy exposed ……A2 (Accused 2) in TSPSC leak is close aide of Bandi Sanjay – Accused in 10th paper viral is close aide of Bandi Sanjay,” BRS leader and chairman of Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation Sathish Reddy alleged Wednesday.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)