BENGALURU: The chemistry question paper leak (for class 12) imbroglio has taken a new turn in Karnataka with the ongoing probe revealing that even the politicians and police officers had connections to it.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is investigating the case, has taken many persons, including an official working as OSD to State Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil, into custody. The inquiry has revealed the involvement of a big network or maybe, a racket behind the frequent leakage of state education board question papers.
On March 21, when the examination for second PU (pre-university) Chemistry was cancelled and the state department of pre university education had announced re-examination, hundreds of students and parents staged protests across the state demanding cancellation of re-examination. But considering the issue and the repercussions on the future of the students, the department decided to conduct re-examination on March 29. The student and parents, however, demanded an alternative date and it was rescheduled to March 31.
But there were allegations of paper leak even on that day, which led to the department postponing the examination again. However, the government has decided to conduct the re-examination on April 12 and is taking all necessary measures to prevent any other untoward incident.
Meanwhile, the CID is interrogating the arrested suspects. Obalaraju, who was working as OSD to the medical education minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, had allegedly used the Minister’s office for his dealings with other accused in the paper leak. According to CID sources, accused Shivakumar (who is absconding now), was in touch with a senior IPS officer from Hubli-Dharwad region.
Who is the boss?
As per CID sources, in the mobile conversation between three accused arrested Manjunath, Obalaraju and Rudrappa, they used some code words and were always referring to a boss. However, it is still not clear who’s the boss.
Teachers’ network at work?
It looks like a clear case of Physical Education teachers’ network as two more people arrested are also PE teachers. They got best teacher awards.