Karnataka PU paper leak: 3 held, but none of them kingpin?

BENGALURU: The CID sleuths, who were working on several clues to ensure that the men behind the leak are arrested before April 12 when there will be a re examination, have managed to arrest three men including the PA to Medical Education Minister. But, according to sources, the three arrested were just facilitators, not the kingpin,  and even they do not know from where exactly the question paper was leaked.

Official sources said that the three men were tracked based on the statements of some students who had received the question papers. "When the students were questioned, they revealed that they had received papers from these men and they have been arrested. But the problem is, out of three, only Manjunath had some contact with other people, who supplied the paper to him. There are multiple levels in the racket and it will be a herculean task to get to the roots of it," an official said.

"We are working towards ensuring that there will be no leak of question papers again for the third time on April 12. But it is not in our hands, as of now, as the kingpins of the racket are yet to be traced," the official  said.

Were all the papers leaked?
Following the arrest of three accused, there were unconfirmed reports that they had confessed during the interrogation that all question papers of second PU exams were leaked. However, CID officials ruled it out. "They have revealed several things including that they charged up to Rs. 10,000 from students. But, they have not said anything to the effect that all the question papers were leaked. Even the information gathered from many students does not indicate that all papers were leaked," the official added.

They did it for their children?
"Children of both Obalaraju and Rudrappa are second PU students. They reportedly wanted the chemistry question papers and thus approached Manjunath through one of their contacts, and Manjunath supplied the question paper to them. It is not yet known whether Obalaraju has paid any money to Manjunath for this," an official source said.

Obalaraju was an employee of the Directo- rate of Pension, Small Savings & Asset-Liability Monitoring and was deputed as PA to Minister Dr. Sharan prakash Patil about two years ago. Police said that Obalaraju was just one of the receivers of the question paper but it was yet to be investigated to know to what extent he had a role in the question paper leakage. The police also revealed that Obalaraju had sold the question paper to many others and made money out of it.

Rudrappa, who works as a manager in the PWD, is the co-brother of Obalaraju. He too sold the question papers to others, the police said.

Manjunath, the physical training teacher, supplied the questions papers to both Obalaraju and Rudrappa. "His wife is also a lecturer in a PU college but we are yet to ascertain whether she had any role in the racket. He was also working as an LIC agent and had procured the question paper from other persons, who are absconding. He made Rs. 10 lakhs within a span of few hours by distributing the question papers to students. His bank account has been frozen," the police said.

CID DIG Sonia Narang, who is heading the probe, told reporters that the information provided by the students and field intelligence led to the arrest of the three persons. "We are yet to know whether they were involved in similar offences in the past. They are a part of a larger racket and efforts are on trace the kingpin," she added.

Valuation boycott
Members of the High Teachers Association on Monday warned that they would boycott valuation, beginning on April 18, if the state government failed to fulfill their demands. Association president H.K. Manjunath said, “If our demands, like increase in salary and providing other benefits are not met, we will boycott the valuation work," he said.

I wanted to stay back and face challenges: Minister
“I thought of resigning immediately after the PU chemistry paper leaked the second time. But a few people said that it could be seen as running away from my responsibility. That is the reason I decided to stand firm and face the challenges,” said Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Rathnakar at an event at Chamaraja nagar near Mysuru on Monday.

“I am firm on my decision to bring in changes in the state education sector. It is unfortunate that educated people are involved in question paper leak scam. Each question paper was sold for Rs10-15 lakh," he alleged.

“The question paper leak is the lowest point in our education system. Please do not consider any politician, including me, as a role model. Today's politicians have restricted themselves only to caste and religion,” he said.

Govt considers ESMA, agitating PU lecturers say won’t budge
The State government is expected to impose the Essential Services Main tenance Act (ESMA) on the agitating PU lecturers who have been boycotting the valuation work since Saturday.

According to sources at the state primary and secondary education board, II PUC students are already under pressure due to the question paper leak controversy. "If this valuation boycott  issue is not resolved immediately it will lead to another controversy.

All options are open," said an officer from the department. Meanwhile, the PU lecturers’ union, which is spearheading the valuation boycott, ruled out any compromise. Speaking to this newspaper, Mr. Thimmayya Purle, president of the union, informed that their demand is the implementation of the Kumar Naik Report submitted to the government on the salary issue.

"We are holding a protest at Freedom Park, beside boycotting the valuation works. The government is adamant," he said. According to the PU department officials, coding work was supposed to be started on Saturday. "But we could not start as lecturers did not turn up for the valuation. We are waiting for government directions in this regard," said an officer from the PU board.