Bengaluru: After sending the police on a wild goose chase across South India and staying beyond the 'long arm of the law' for over a month, the prime accused and the reported kingpin of the II nd PU chemistry question paper leak racket, Shivakumariah alias Shivakumaraswamy alias Guruji, was finally arrested on Monday night from Garvebhavipalya on Hosur Road, barely 16 km from the investigation agency's headquarters in Seshadripuram.
The 66-year-old retired headmaster was produced before a court on Tuesday and was handed over to the custody of CID sleuths for 10 days for interrogation.
Around 10.30 on Monday night, forty CID sleuths, led by DySP CID Sirigowri, surrounded an under-construction building, part of which was perfectly habitable, in Garvebhavipalya and picked up the accused, said Kishore Chandra, DGP, CID.
The operation was carried out in complete secrecy and the media had no clue till the CID made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. Insiders said that the PU scamster had been allegedly caught with his pants down, in the company of a woman and with bottles of liquor.
Based on credible information, a 40-member team of CID sleuths, led by the DySP Sirigowri, zeroed in on the accused and made the arrest at 10.30 pm on Monday night, said Kishore Chandra, DGP, CID.
According to CID sources, Shivakumariah did not use any phones and used other peoples’ phones at random to communicate to his associates using code names on an ‘as-needed’ basis.
“Tomato” was the code name for the business that he dealt with the second PU question papers, sources from the CID stated. There could be other code names for the business involving leak of other question papers such as SSLC, CET, KPSC, and others, sources added.
Even as the CID sleuths had launched a manhunt for him, Shivakumaraiah was planning to leak the CET question papers to amass money, to facilitate legal proceedings to work in his favour and even destroy evidences, CID sources stated.
Shivakumaraiah has six cases of question paper leaks against him, four in the city and two in Tumakuru. He managed to go off the police radar, once the chemistry paper got leaked for the second time on March 31.
The Arrest
CID sleuths had credible information that Shivakumariah was a womanizer and they hoped he would get in touch with one of his girlfriends sooner or later. However, they had to wait for long as the accused was not using phones or any ATM cards. The team got a clue when one of his girlfriends was contacted from an anonymous phone number.
This confirmed his presence in the city, CID sources said. Later the sleuths followed the woman and reached the under-construction building in Arvebhavipalya, where he had taken shelter. On Monday, around 10.30 pm, Shivakumaraiah was nabbed along with a bag full of imported liquor and Rs 50,000 in cash that was seized by the police. The accused was wearing only a shirt during the time of his arrest, a source added.
Music teacher & womaniser
Shivakumaraiah used to target women from economically weaker sections, who were employed as domestic servant at his house. He then used to offer them money and befriend them, the source added. He was also known as a ‘Guruji’, as he was a music teacher, a CID source stated.
Who leaked papers to kingpin?
“Our investigating team has information about the people who sourced the question papers to Shivakumaraiah from the PU Department. We are yet to interrogate Shivakumaraiah, who was arrested on Monday, after which based on his confessions, further arrests would be made. Information about the whereabouts of his son Dinesh and his nephew Kiran, alias Kumaraswamy, will also be obtained from the accused during interrogation,” said a senior CID police officer.
Paper leaks since 2008
Shivakumariah had been adopting the above modus operandi since 2008 for his organised syndicate of question paper leaks. Cases were registered against him since 2008 at various police stations such as New Extension police station in Tumakuru, Gubbi police station, Vijayanagar, Nandhini Layout, Chandra Layout and Malleswaram police stations in Bengaluru. He was earlier arrested in 2008, but managed to come out on bail and has two cases running in courts. CID invoked the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act recently after learning that he was involved in multiple cases of question papers, jeopardising the future of lakhs of students.
