Raipur, 22 August (H.S.): Raipur Police on Saturday arrested six people, including a professor identified as the alleged mastermind, in connection with the leak of the question paper for the second-year, second-semester BSc Agriculture Entomology examination at Indira Gandhi Agricultural University. Police claimed to have cracked the case within 36 hours and recovered Rs 11,000 in cash, six mobile phones and other materials allegedly used in leaking the question paper. Two other suspects remain absconding and efforts are underway to trace them.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Cyber) Smritik Rajnala, while disclosing details of the case at a press conference on Saturday, said the AGCH-221 (Entomology) examination was scheduled to be held from 10 am to 1 pm on August 20 across 28 agricultural colleges affiliated with the university.

Before the examination began, information about the question paper leak was received at around 8:41 am through an email from the Kawardha College of Agriculture and Research Centre and at around 8:54 am by the concerned officials. Students and student representatives also informed the university through WhatsApp that some questions from the paper had gone viral. Subsequently, a case was registered at Telibandha Police Station.

Rajnala said that, considering the seriousness of the matter, a joint team comprising personnel from the Anti-Crime and Cyber Unit and Telibandha Police Station was formed. More than 100 police personnel were deployed to conduct a technical analysis of the leaked question paper, screenshots, photographs, messages and social media posts circulating online.

Investigators examined the digital trail to determine the account, mobile number or other digital medium from which the question paper was first circulated, as well as the sequence of its dissemination and the network of digital contacts involved. Based on technical evidence and interrogation, police identified a suspect, Anuj Minj, a resident of Durg. Separate teams were subsequently dispatched to Kabirdham, Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur and adjoining districts. After nearly 36 hours of continuous investigation, police traced the source of the leak and arrested six accused persons.

Professor Allegedly Recorded Paper by Making Hole in Envelope

According to DCP Rajnala, the alleged mastermind and prime accused in the case is Yogesh Sonkesaria, a professor at Bharti Agriculture College in Durg. He has been serving as a professor at the college since 2019.

For about a year, Sonkesaria had reportedly been responsible for depositing answer sheets from his college and collecting question papers for upcoming examinations before taking them back to the college. On August 17, he visited the Agriculture College in Jora, Raipur, to deposit answer sheets. During the visit, he allegedly received question papers for upcoming examinations.

After keeping the other question papers at the college, he allegedly took home the envelope containing the question paper for the Entomology examination scheduled for August 20.

Police allege that, at his residence, Sonkesaria used a needle and a sharp instrument to make a small hole in the envelope and inserted a mobile phone camera to record the question paper. He then allegedly reproduced the contents of the paper and sold them for a total of Rs 11,000 to his college student Ajay Nayak and two other students.

Nayak subsequently allegedly provided the question paper to Tridev Patel, Nitin Pandey, Anuj Minj and Aditya Sahu.

Six Accused Arrested

The six arrested accused have been identified as professor Yogesh Sonkesaria, Ajay Nayak, Tridev Patel, Nitin Pandey, Anuj Minj and Aditya Sahu. Police said the accused who allegedly purchased the question paper are students of Bharti Agriculture College in Durg.

Police recovered Rs 11,000 in cash, six mobile phones, a video-recording device, cables, a mobile connector, a needle, a pointed tool, a notebook and adhesive from the possession of the accused.

Police said two other suspects allegedly linked to the case are still absconding and teams are conducting raids to locate them. Investigators are also questioning the arrested accused to determine the roles of other possible suspects and establish the full extent of the network involved in the paper leak.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar