Karnataka PU paper leak: Main accused's son got all papers for girlfriend
Bengaluru: A woman MBBS dropout from Tumakuru, who is said to be a close friend of main accused Shivakumar’s son Dinesh, has confessed to CID sleuths, who are investigating the second PU chemistry paper leak, that Dinesh helped her get the question papers of PU, CET and even MBBS to help her secure good marks.
The cops have recorded her statements and have continued their hunt for Shivakumar, his son and others in the case. On Wednesday, the CID sleuths arrested three more people – a PWD engineer, a real estate businessman and a mathematics teacher, bringing the total number of arrests to eight.
The fresh arrests were of K.S. Ranganath, a junior engineer with the Public Work Department office in K.R. Circle, Anil Kumar B. (46), a real estate businessman, and Muralidhar K.M. (52), the maths lecturer, who runs a private coaching centre in the city.
While Ranganath and Anil allegedly procured the question papers illegally from other accused, Rudrappa, Kumarswamy alias Kiran and Shivakumar, Muralidhar allegedly helped Shivakumar prepare the answers for the leaked question papers, CID sources said.
Muralidhar ran A-3 Coaching Centre in Jalahalli and had close links with Shivakumar. Anil, who is linked to Muralidhar, got students for the coaching centre and gave key answers to those students who paid him extra money for the leaked question papers. Ranganath allegedly procured the leaked question papers for his son from Rudrappa, a manager at PWD who was arrested earlier, CID sources said.
Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, a senior officer said that Muralidhar procured leaked question papers from Shivakumar a day before the exam and arranged for lecturers from each subject to prepare the answers. While he sold the question papers for around Rs 5,000 per paper, he organised special coaching classes and gave the key answers to the students who paid him extra money.
The special coaching for these students was being organised at the house of his associate Anil in Ullal. Muralidhar got 20 percent commission from Shivakumar for his activities, the sleuths said.
Three other accused in the case Manjunath, Obalaraju and Rudrappa were produced before the court as their custody ended on Wednesday, and were remanded to judicial custody till April 27.
Muralidhar, Anil and Ranganath were taken into police custody for further questioning until April 18. The manhunt for Shivakumar, his son Dinesh and his nephew Kiran is continuing, the sleuths added.
No valuation work as 10k lecturers continue to protest
More than 10,000 II PUC lecturers did not turn up for the valuation work that began on Wednesday, as they are on a strike demanding better pay packages. PU Department officials said that none of the lecturers turned up at valuation centres in seven cities across the state.
In Bengaluru, tens of lecturers started a hunger strike, demanding immediate implementation of the Kumar Naik committee report. Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Rathnakar and education department officials held a series of meetings with the office-bearers of the PU Lecturers’ Association to break the deadlock. But till late evening, there was no breakthrough, sources said.
Alternative plan: The PU Department is planning to use the services of lecturers from private unaided colleges to complete the valuation works by April 30.
