Top Karnatak University official behind assistant professor exam paper leak?

Police on Tuesday questioned the registrar (evaluation) of Karnatak University, Dharwad over suspicion that he was behind the paper leak in the assistant professor examination held last month, multiple sources have told DH.

Dr H Nagaraja, presently posted in Dharwad, was one of the subject experts who had set the geography question paper, which leaked at least half an hour before the exam's scheduled start time on March 14. The exam was held to recruit assistant professors in government degree colleges across Karnataka.

DH made phone calls and sent text messages to Prof Nagaraja seeking comment but he did not respond.

Also Read | Mysuru guest lecturer arrested in assistant professor exam scam

Sources in the Bengaluru police said he was questioned on Tuesday about his role in the paper leak. The same evening, the police took him and a 32-year-old guest lecturer named Sowmya to Mysuru after obtaining a court warrant to search their houses. Both are residents of Mysuru.

Sowmya was arrested by Bengaluru police on Monday on suspicion that she had sent a portion of the leaked paper to some of her friends as WhatsApp forwards.

Multiple sources in the Karnakata Examinations Authority (KEA), the police and the University of Mysore have confirmed to DH that Dr Nagaraja was part of the team that had set the geography paper and that he was also Sowmya's PhD guide. He was a professor of geography at the Mysuru university before he was sent to Dharwad.

Speaking to DH, Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said: "As soon as we received the complaint, we asked the KEA to file a police complaint. Let the police conduct an inquiry. Whoever is involved in this will not be spared even if they are people of high profile."

Prof K B Gudasi, Vice-Chancellor, Karnatak University, Dharwad, said Prof Nagaraja was in Bengaluru to attend "a meeting" with regard to this particular matter. He called for an impartial probe into the scam and the prosecution of the guilty.

A candidate who had taken the exam and who is among those who had filed a complaint about the paper leak said: "We strongly suspect the question paper setters' involvement in the leak and demand an inquiry."

Meanwhile, candidates suspect that other papers were also leaked.

"For the geography subject, there were only eight posts of lecturers. When the paper of such a subject could be leaked, what about subjects that have many more posts," asked a candidate who took the exam for the commerce subject. "The government should order a CID inquiry into the exam of all subjects."

Weighing in, another candidate said that from Day One, there were rumours about the scam in the recruitment exam. "There are also media reports but the government ignored them. We demand justice now that the scam has been unearthed in one subject," the candidate added.

(With inputs from R Shrinidhi in Dharwad)

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