TSPSC paper leak: Congress leaders in Telangana put under house arrest

HYDERABAD: Telangana Congress President, A Revanth Reddy and some party leaders were on Friday placed under "house arrest" at different places to prevent them from joining a protest at the Osmania University campus here over the TSPSC exams question papers leak issue.

Revanth Reddy was invited to take part in the protest on the Osmania University (OU) campus, which was being held under the aegis of a joint action committee (JAC) of various students and unemployed youth associations of OU. The JAC called for a two-day protest demanding a probe by a sitting judge into the TSPSC papers leak case, dismissal of the present TSPSC board and appointment of a new board, among others.

Members of different students' groups held protests on the campus today and were also planning to take out a march from the OU campus to the Telangana Martyrs' memorial at Gun Park in front of the state Assembly, but were prevented by police. As no permission was granted for the protest, the agitators were taken into preventive custody by police, a senior police official told PTI.

The development comes a day after Revanth Reddy appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Hyderabad Police, which is investigating the examination papers leak case, after being summoned to produce evidence over his allegations in connection with the case.

A total of 12 people, including three employees of TSPSC, a contract employee of the Commission, two candidates and a police constable, have been arrested since March 13 over their alleged involvement in the data breach -- for stealing and leaking question papers of TSPSC's Assistant Engineer (Civil) examination, among other exams.

The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) on March 15 cancelled the Assistant Engineers (AE) exam held on March 5, following allegations that the question paper had been leaked. Amid protests by opposition parties and students' groups over the alleged question paper leak, the Commission cancelled the Group-I preliminary exam and two other tests as well.