Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former minister Ponguru Narayana, who managed to get away by securing bail in the sensational Class X examination question paper leak case, is now all set to go behind bars.
The Ninth Additional Magistrate Court in Chittoor on Monday cancelled the bail granted to Narayana in the case, pending final hearing. The court asked Narayana to surrender before the police before November 30.
The Chittoor court delivered a judgement in this regard after prolonged hearing from the prosecution and the defendants.
The police had challenged an earlier decision of the court stating that Narayana was very much involved in the question paper leak and hence, it is not proper for him to be out of jail.
The Chittoor court granted bail to Narayana on May 11, after approving the two sureties submitted by his lawyers.
The court dismissed the petition of the public prosecutor that Narayana should submit original documents and also appear in the court in person.
Earlier, the state high court also granted anticipatory bail to two daughters and son-in-law of Narayana in the Class 10 question paper leak case.
Besides, Narayana’s daughter P Sharani, P Sindhura, son-in-law K Punith, 10 others of the Narayana group of educational institutions also got anticipatory bail.
Narayana, the founder of Narayana Group of institutions, was arrested in the case on May 10.
A team of Chittoor police had taken him into custody in Hyderabad on May 10. He was produced before a magistrate in Chittoor in the wee hours of May 11.
However, the magistrate granted bail to Narayana after agreeing with the contention of his counsel that he resigned from the post of the chairman of Narayana Group in 2014.
The case was registered on a complaint by the District Educational Officer (DEO) about the circulation of a Telugu language question paper at a government school in Gangadhara Nellore town on April 27.
Chittoor SP Y Rishant Reddy revealed that a total of seven persons have been taken into custody. He said Narayana was arrested, as per rules, and on the basis of technical evidence gathered and the details collected from other accused.
He said the malpractice was committed in a pre-planned manner to get more admissions into corporate schools.
The police learnt that the details of the invigilators on duty at examination centres were gathered by the accused. Students who were good at studies and who were not so good were also identified to help them in malpractice.
The SP said the photograph of the question paper was taken through a headmaster at an examination centre and the accused tried to send back answers to the examination centre.
The police also found during the investigation that the question paper leak also happened in a similar manner in the past.
The accused arrested in the case had worked in Narayana institutions in the past. Police were also probing the role of other educational institutions.
