The Cybercrime Police have arrested the vice-principal of a law college in Kolar and two others in connection with the leak of a law exam question paper last month, Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda said on Tuesday.
The arrested individuals were identified as MV Nagaraj, vice-principal of Basavashree College of Law in Kolar, his driver Jagadish V, who was also studying law at the institution, and another student, Varun Kumar.
“The accused had leaked the question paper on WhatsApp and Telegram channels for monetary gain,” Dayananda said at a press briefing.
The issue came to light when Vishwanatha KN, chairman and member of Vigilance Squad-2, filed a complaint on January 30. He reported that questions from the Contract Law-I paper, which was scheduled for January 23, had surfaced on social media before the exam could take place. The exam was conducted for law colleges affiliated with the Karnataka State Law University (KSLU).
Following the complaint, the case was handed over to the Cyber Crime Police under the supervision of deputy commissioner of police (crime) Hakay Akshay Machindra. Investigators traced the suspects to Anekal and Chintamani in Kolar, where they were arrested.
According to a senior officer involved in the investigation, Nagaraj was the key figure in the leak, as he was responsible for safeguarding the exam papers. “Nagaraj was the custodian of the question papers and was responsible for the leak. The others furthered it by forwarding them to other groups,” the officer said.
The investigation revealed that Nagaraj had accessed the question paper a week prior to the exam and shared it with select students to improve the college’s performance and secure additional academic benefits. His driver, Jagadish, then collaborated with Varun Kumar to monetise the leak.
Varun allegedly posted messages on WhatsApp groups offering the leaked question paper for sale, the officer said. However, some students raised objections and alerted authorities, which led to the investigation and arrests.
According to another official, the papers were accessed from the college’s storage area a day before the exam, copied, and distributed. The cybercrime department is conducting further investigations to determine whether more individuals were involved in the leak.