Telangana HC adjourns hearing on Bandi Sanjay’s plea to April 10

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday adjourned to April 10 the hearing on a petition challenging the judicial remand of state BJP chief and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar in the Class 10 question paper leak case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan took up for hearing a lunch motion petition filed by Sanjay’s lawyer and directed the police to file a counter affidavit.

The court also told Sanjay that he may approach the court concerned for bail.

The BJP leader’s counsel submitted that the police arrested him without issuing a notice under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Another bench of the High Court issued notice to police on a habeas corpus petition filed by a BJP leader. The court adjourned the hearing by four weeks.

Meanwhile, the Warangal police have filed a counter to Sanjay’s bail petition in Additional First Class Magistrate Court in Hanamkonda. The police have also sought three day custody of the MP for questioning him.

Warangal police have named Sanjay as the main accused in the leakage of Hindi question paper of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam from an exam centre at Kamlapur in Warangal district on Tuesday.

The Karimnagar MP was arrested amid high-drama from his in-laws’ house in Karimnagar on Tuesday night. This triggered protests by the BJP, which termed the arrest illegal.

After the arrest, Sanjay was taken to a police station in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district and then brought to Warangal in the evening. Since Wednesday was a holiday for courts, he was produced at the residence of the First Class Magistrate in Hanamkonda on Wednesday evening. After hearing both sides, the magistrate remanded him to judicial custody till April 19.

Sanjay was shifted to Karimnagar district jail on Wednesday night.

Police alleged that Sanjay hatched a plan with other accused to leak the Class 10 question paper.

Out of total 10 accused in the case, police have arrested five accused and served notice on a juvenile, a Class 10 student.

Bandi Sanjay, Boora Prashanth, Gundaboina Mahesh and Moutam Shiva Ganesh have been arrested.

Pogu Subash, Pogu Shashank, Dhoolam Srikanth, Perumandla Shramik and Pothanaboina Varsith are absconding.

They have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 505 (circulating any report or statement with an intent to cause alarm to the public)

Police have also invoked sections 4 (A), 6 of TS Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices) Act and 66-D of Information Technology Act.

Warangal Police Commissioner A.V. Ranganath told media persons on Wednesday that Sanjay refused to give his mobile phone to police and deleted a lot of data. “If he is innocent, why is he hiding the phone,” he asked.

The commissioner said they would retrieve the call and chat data even if it was deleted. “We will approach WhatsApp and phone service providers to retrieve the data,” he said.

The police chief said this was part of a conspiracy to bring the government to disrepute and to dilute the examination system.