Bengaluru: The influence of key accused in the PU question paper scam, Shivakumar alias Swamy, stretches across all departments of the government, including the police, claim sources in the education department.
Dozens of officials, who spoke to Deccan Chronicle on condition of anonymity, said the question papers were leaked to children of highly influential persons and colleges.
In fact, a few senior officials of the state government allegedly bought the question papers for their children appearing for the II PU final examination.
“It is easy to target the education department. But in reality officials from all departments are part of this racket.
In 2013, the then education minister wanted to use the Goonda Act against Shivakumar, but this did not happen. If he had been arrested at the time under the Act, the government could have protected the interests of many students, who are suffering today,” said an officer of the education department.
The physical education teacher was allegedly not only making money selling leaked PU question papers, but also question papers for recruitment of policemen.
Calling on the CID not to limit its investigation to II PU question paper leaks, an officer of the education department said it should also look into the police recruitment examination question papers he had accessed and and who his beneficiaries were.
The officer also wondered who Shivakumar’s priority customers were for the leaked PU question papers. “Why did his son rush from Hubballi to Bengaluru on the eve of the Chemistry examination? This must be looked into,” he said.
Kingpin seeks anticipatory bail
The suspected kingpin of the second PU chemistry question paper leak case, Shivakumar, 66, has filed an anticipatory bail petition in a city sessions court. CID sources said that while the CID teams have gone in search of him to Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the suspect approached the court seeking bail in the case fearing arrest.
The CID will submit a status report on the investigation to the Chief Secretary. “It will be submitted on Monday. The arrests done so far, the role of several colleges and the details of the interrogation of PU Board staff will find mention in the report. Also, steps taken to avert leakage of question paper for chemistry reexamination on April 12 will be explained,” he said.
The CID sleuths have issued summons to several people who were in contact with the arrested five accused. Also, two more people, Kiran and Dayanand, were picked up from Gubbi in Tumakuru on Saturday morning and were detained based on their call details, which revealed their nexus with the arrested people. But their role in the scam is yet to be established, sources said.
