II PU chemistry paper leak: Minister's aide, 2 others held

BENGALURU: A Karnataka minister's assistant was among the three persons arrested by CID sleuths on Monday for their alleged involvement in leaking the II PU chemistry question paper on March 21.

Obalaraju (51), personal assistant of medical education minister Sharanaprakash R Patil, was arrested along with Manjunath (47), a physical education instructor at Cambridge PU College in Vijayanagar and Rudrappa (50), of the public works department.

Police said preliminary investigation revealed Manjunath, who doubled up as an insurance agent, received the question paper which he sold for Rs 10 lakh. Obalaraju and Rudrappa, who are his relatives, circulated the paper for money and also gave it to their children who were taking the exam, police said. CID officials are yet to nab the kingpin.

The leak had forced PU authorities to cancel the March 21 exam and hold another on March 31. The March 31 exam too was postponed to April 12 following another leak.

"There is evidence that some officials in the PU department leaked the paper first, which was then distributed to outsiders," a CID source said.