क्राइम

Telangana BJP chief remanded in judicial custody till April 19 in paper leak case

Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay was remanded in judicial custody till April 19 in the SSC paper leak case. The Karimnagar MP was picked up by a team of police past midnight from his residence in Karimnagar city, triggering protests by his party workers.

The police have accused Bandi Sanjay of giving directions to one of the accused to "exploit the situation" following the leak of secondary school exam papers on April 3 and recirculate them.

"The BJP state chief sought to portray it as the failure of the government in preventing the question paper leak," the police said.

The Telugu question paper of the Standard 10 (SSC) board exam in Telangana found its way into an instant messaging platform for the second day on Tuesday, April 4, after a 16-year-old boy took a photo of the paper from a student who appeared for the exam and shared it with that student's brother while the exam was going on. The paper was then posted on a group and subsequently shared in other groups by one of the accused, who had also sent a copy to Bandi Sanjay

Kumar, police said.

The police have claimed that Bandi Sanjay had sought to defame the government by conspiring to create fear among the students and their parents during the ongoing SSC public examination, as the blame for the question paper leak would fall on the Telangana administration.

"Bandi Sanjay Kumar hatched a plan with the help of two other accused to leak out the ongoing SSC papers by taking a photo of a question paper on a cell phone," the police further said.

Bandi Sanjay and three other accused were later remanded to two-week judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the BJP has dismissed the allegations against Bandi Sanjay as baseless and politically motivated.

Bandi Sanjay has been vocal in his criticism of the BRS government Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The police action came amid heightened tensions between

the BJP and the BRS ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Telangana on Saturday.