BJP MP Bandi Sanjay main accused in SSC Paper-leak case : Warangal CP Ranganath

WARANGAL: Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay Kumar has been arrested and named as the primary accused (A1) in the SSC Hindi paper leak case, and a few othes as the other accused for hatching a criminal conspiracy to leak the ongoing SSC exam papers in order to defame the government in power, said Warangal Commissioner AV Ranganath on Wednesday.

AV Ranganath said at a press conference in Warangal about the Hindi Paper leak case that their investigation discovered WhatsApp chats between former HMTV journalist B Prashanth(A2) and MP Bandi Sanjay.

The MP repeated whatever information we discovered in their WhatsApp chats during his press conference. Prashanth, who previously worked for HMTV, Nation With Namo and Association of Billion Minds in Warangal and was currently unemployed, forwarded the “leaked” paper to numerous people along with BJP leader Etala Rajender and many other BJP workers.

The Commissioner stated that the third accused was Mahesh(A3) and fourth accused (A4) was a juvenile and would be put in Juvenile Custody.

In addition, the inquiry uncovered numerous phone conversations between Prashanth and Bandi Sanjay, who admitted to planning the paper leak, he said. According to AV Ranganath, the conspiracy began when the paper’s image was shared with BJP leaders because it was pre-planned and shared with others on purpose.

"The photograph of the Hindi question paper was taken at 9.45 a.m. on April 4, about 15 minutes after the exam began," according to the Commissioner. He said," B Prashanth(A2) forwarded the question paper to many, including Bandi Sanjay, at 11:18 a.m. The MP spoke about whatever they had spoken about at his news conference on April 5, 2023. The press statement issued by Bandi Sanjay in response to their chat on April 3 was published in the Andhra Jyothi newspaper."

He said, conversations and WhatsApp messages between the suspects the day before the test were discovered. “We also obtained conversations from Prashanth's phone, which created strong evidence against the accused. We have not been able to access Bandi Sanjay's phone, which was purposefully hidden," the Commissioner said.

“When we requested Bandi's phone, he said he didn't have it because he knew if we got the phone, we'd get a lot of evidence in the case” said Ranganath.

According to the police remand report, Bandi Sanjay instructed Prashanth to exploit the situation of the SSC paper leak in Vikarabad, stating that if it happened again on Wednesday, it would defame the government and demonstrate the state government's failure.

"We're attempting to retrieve data from his phone in this instance in order to learn more about him", he added. When asked about the arrest without a warrant, the commissioner said, "We followed all legal procedures, exercised power under 41 CrPc, and informed the Lok Sabha Speaker since we arrested a Lok Sabha MP."

The Commissioner said that the police would use other methods of retrieving the conversations and deleted content from the WhatsApp chats by using technology.

The police were yet to get the call data of the accused persons. Once that was accessed, the information of the calls and conversations could be corroborated, he pointed out.

He asserted that the police did not act against the MP and that several Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Congress workers too in Warangal in different other cases.

“We don’t protect any party or anyone. We strictly go by the law and investigation procedures.”

To a query, he said that the Karimnagar police had arrested him on Tuesday night under section 151 of the CrPC under preventive arrest.

The police registered cases against him under Sections 420 and 120(b) of the IPC, Section 5 of Prevention of Malpractice Act. Charges havd been registered under sections 154 and 157 of the CrPC.

Bandi Sanjay, the primary accused, was produced before Magistrate Anitha Rapolu in Hanamkonda on Wednesday evening.

It remains unclear whether he would be released on bail or would stay in prison.

The Commissioner said that the police did not make the arrests casually. However, the police arrested those where they could establish a corroborating evidence. That’s how Bandi Sanjay was named as the accused no.1.