12 booked for protest over question paper ‘leak’ in Sindhanur; one arrested

The Sindhanur Police have registered a case against 12 candidates and arrested one in connection with a protest over a question paper “leak” during the Panchayat Development Officers examination conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) there on Sunday.

The police action came after Assistant Lecturer and Exam Supervisor Basavaraj Tadkal lodged a complaint on Sunday when hundreds of candidates blocked the main road for hours claiming that the question paper has been leaked and demanded re-examination.

An FIR stated that Accused No 1 Kashipathi, who was sitting in block number 5, created unnecessary confusion among the candidates by saying that a bundle of question papers was unsealed, while the question papers were being distributed. He further said that the question paper has been leaked.

He instigated other candidates and made them come out of the examination blocks. Then, all the accused in the case blocked Sindhanur-Kushtagi Main Road and created trouble, the FIR stated.

The KPSC scheduled the examination to fill 97 posts of PDOs for the Hyderabad Karnataka region and 840 candidates were to write the exam at the Government Degree College in Sindhanur on Sunday.

But after the allegation came, hundreds of candidates came out of the examination block and joined the protest, which continued for long despite efforts made by officials to convince them of the need to withdraw it and complete the examination process.

Meanwhile, the authorities denied any leak in question papers and continued the second session of the examination. The district administration then sent a detailed report to the KPSC for further action.

Arrested

Raichur Superintendent of Police M. Puttamadaiah has confirmed that the police have arrested accused Kashipathi.

A case has been registered under Sections 126(2), 189(2), 190, 191(2), 248 and 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita 2023.

Published - November 18, 2024 07:25 pm IST