The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday slammed Telangana State Chief Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao for detaining its state unit president and parliamentarian Bandi Sanjay Kumar from his residence.
The detention came just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the state on 8 April to inaugurate the Vande Bharat Express train from Secunderabad to Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He is also scheduled to launch various other infrastructure projects.
Kumar, who lives in the state's region of Karimnagar, later shared on social media videos of the scuffle that ensued between him and the police.
In the tweet, the BJP parliamentarian said he was arrested because of the fear that exists in Rao's party (BRS) that he would expose all the wrongdoings of the state government.
In the videos, Kumar can be seen being dragged by policemen and made to sit inside a police van.
According to media reports, a team of state police reached Kumar’s home and took him into custody. At midnight, his supporters and party workers took to the streets to protest, and even burned an effigy of Rao, the state chief.
Kumar was reportedly taken to Bommala Ramaram Police Station in Nalgaunda district.
Reacting to his detention, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted that Telangana’s BJP unit chief was arrested by the Rao-led state government on trumped-up charges.
Alleging that Kumar had been arrested to disrupt the Prime Minister’s program in the state scheduled for 8 April, BJP State General Secretary Premender Reddy pointed out that Kumar was detained past midnight. "He has been held from his residence in Karimnagar illegally. They should have initiated any legal process only in the morning - where would have Bandi Sanjay Kumar have gone?”
“What was the need for this action against a Member of Parliament at midnight? What is the crime and case? They are not telling us anything. He is being taken to the Bhongir [area]. Why has he been taken there?” Reddy asked.
He also announced that the BJP is planning a statewide protest against the “illegal” arrest of Kumar.
The BJP's spokesman in the state, Natcharaju Venkata Subhash, said that Kumar has been arrested to divert the people's attention from corruption by the BRS.
“The arrest is a heinous act. How can the state president of a national party be arrested without any reason, without giving any notice? The police are acting spinelessly under [Rao's] orders. Bandi Sanjay was arrested for diverting public attention from the leaks of the TSPSC and Class 10 exam papers.”
Notably, Kumar had earlier called for the resignation of Rao and his son Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao from the state Cabinet, holding them responsible for the leak of question papers for the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) and Class 10 exams.
Rao's daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha was recently questioned by the federal Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi Excise Policy case and the exam paper leak scam that has rocked TSPSC.
TSPSC Question Paper Leak Controversy
The paper for the post of Assistant Executive Engineer (Civil) was leaked on 27 February, days before the exam was due to be sat on 5 March. Opposition parties in the state and students organizations staged protests after the news was leaked.
The exam was subsequently cancelled and the state government announced that it would be reset.
The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) also cancelled the Preliminary Group 1 exam held in October last year. Its result was announced in January this year on suspicion that the question paper had been leaked.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up by the state government on 14 March to investigate the matter. The SIT found that an assistant section officer P Praveen Kumar and Personal Assistant (PA) to Secretary of the TSPSC downloaded the question paper and sold it for INR 1 million ($12,175).
It was also found out by the SIT that D Renuka, an old colleague of Praveen, who joined the TSPSC in 2017, had approached him with an offer to get the question paper.
Now, the SIT is also investigating whether Praveen and others leaked other TSPSC question papers for exams held in recent years. So far, 10 people including some aspirants who purchased the question paper have been arrested in the case.
Opposition parties in the state have alleged that Praveen, the main accused, is a small fish and that persons known to the relations of State Chief Rao were also involved.