BENGALURU: The man who is at the centre of the question paper scam has been identified by CID sleuths as a retired schoolteacher with a known track record for selling question papers to students and tutorials.
CID teams are hunting for Shivakumar alias Shivakumar Swamy who has been missing since the day that the PU Chemistry paper was leaked for the second time last week. As the investigation progresses, Shivakumar and his son Dinesh are emerging as the kingpins of the chemistry paper leak case.
“In fact, a CID team had questioned Shivakumar in the earlier stage of the probe. At that stage, there was no strong suspicion against him. After being interrogated once, Shivakumar has gone absconding, increasing our doubts that he could be the kingpin of the racket,” an official said.
Shivakumar's son Dinesh, who is believed to an MBBS drop out, had also allegedly joined hands with his father in the illegal trade. “After the recent question paper leak, both the father and son have dropped off the map,” the official added.
Sources close to the investigation have told DC that Shivakumar had put his nephew, Kiran alias Kumaraswamy, on the job of circulating the questions papers. “Kiran, son of Shivakumar’s younger brother, is an LIC agent. It is suspected that Kiran was the one who gave the question paper to the arrested PT teacher Manjunath, who is also an LIC agent,” the official said.
Who is Shivakumar?
Shivakumar, 66, is a resident of Nandini Layout and a retired headmaster of a BBMP run school in the city. Hailing from Gubbi in Tumakuru, Shivakumar was arrested several times in the past in connection with leaking question papers. In June 2009, he along with his car driver Basavaraju and another lecturer, he was arrested by the CCB police when they were caught red-handed while they were dictating the questions of second PU Physics supplementary examination to more than 30 students at the Aditya Teachers College in Malleswaram.
He was also arrested by Chandra Layout police a few years earlier for leaking Karnataka Public Service Commission question papers for appointment of clerks. Before this, he was also arrested by Vijaynagar police for selling fake SSLC question papers. In March 2013, he and his car driver were arrested by the Tumakuru police for selling fake question papers of second PU exams. In June 2014, he was arrested by the CCB police for leaking question paper of Karnataka Teacher Eligibility Test (KARTET). Every time he got arrested, he was out on bail but never stopped procuring question papers from the corrupt PU Board and selling them to students.
