Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar hatched a plan with other accused to leak the 10th class question paper, police said on Wednesday.
Sanjay, who was arrested late on Tuesday, had several telephonic conversations and chats with B. Prashanth who shared the leaked paper on WhatsApp, Warangal Police Commissioner A.V. Ranganath said on Wednesday.
Addressing a news conference, he said that while Prashanth shared the leaked paper on WhatsApp with many individuals including BJP leaders, they arrested Sanjay Kumar for several telephone calls and chatting with the accused a day before the question paper leak.
Police believe that the paper leak happened at the instance of Bandi Sanjay and hope to join dots after retrieving call data.
Ranganath said Sanjay refused to give his mobile phone to police and deleted a lot of data. “If he is innocent, why is he hiding the phone,” he asked.
The Commissioner said they would retrieve the call and chat data even if it was deleted. “We will approach WhatsApp and phone service provider to retrieve the data,” he said.
The police chief this was part of a conspiracy to bring the government to disrepute and to dilute the examination system. He revealed that in one of the chats accused number three G. Mahesh asked Prashanth if the paper was leaked.
Sanjay Kumar has been named as accused number one in the case. He has been booked under Indian Penal Code’s (IPC) Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), and 505 (circulating any report or statement with an intent to cause alarm to the public).
Police have also invoked sections 4 (A), 6 of TS Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices) Act and 66-D of Information Technology Act.
The sections are non-bailable and if convicted, the guilty may get a jail sentence of 3 to 7 years.
The Police Commissioner also clarified that they had informed the office of Lok Sabha Speaker before arresting Sanjay as a he is a member of Lok Sabha.
He also argued that police have powers under section 41 of Criminal Procedure Coe to arrest a person without warrant.
Four persons, including Sanjay, have been arrested in the case while five others are absconding. He said a minor student who took photo of the Hindi paper from an exam centre at Kamlapur minutes after the exam began at 9.30 a.m. and sent to Prashanth, who then forwarded it to several BJP leaders and media persons.
The Police Commissioner said the minor will be produced before a juvenile court.
