Telangana HC Adjourns Hearing On Bandi Sanjay's Plea Challenging Judicial Custody To April 10

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan took up for hearing the petition filed by Sanjay's lawyer and directed the police to file a counter affidavit.

The Telangana High Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on a petition by state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar challenging his judicial custody in the SSC question paper leak case to April 10. The HC allowed Bandi Sanjay to file a bail plea in the lower court.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan took up for hearing the petition filed by Sanjay's lawyer and directed the police to file a counter affidavit.

Sanjay's counsel submitted that the police arrested him without issuing a notice under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Meanwhile, the Warangal police have filed a counter to Sanjay's bail plea in Hanamkonda Additional First Class Magistrate Court. The police have also sought three-day custody of Sanjay for questioning him.

MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who was arrested in Karimnagar on Tuesday, was sent to judicial custody until April 19 by a court in Hanamkonda on Wednesday in the Class 10 question paper leak case.

Sanjay was shifted to Karimnagar district jail on Wednesday night. Warangal Police have named Sanjay as the first accused in the leak of the Class 10 question paper. Police arrested him on charges of criminal conspiracy, malpractices in SSC public exams, and disrupting the peaceful conduct of the ongoing SSC exams in the state.

According to police, Bandi Sanjay hatched a plan with the help of other accused Prashanth and Moutam Shiva Ganesh to leak the ongoing SSC exam papers by circulating them on Whatsapp.

The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), and 505 (circulating any report or statement with an intent to cause alarm to the public).

Police have also invoked sections 4 (A), 6 of the TS Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices) Act, and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act. The sections are non-bailable, and if convicted, the guilty may face a jail sentence of 3 to 7 years.

Warangal Police Commissioner AV Ranganath said Sanjay refused to give his mobile phone to the police and deleted a lot of data. He said they would retrieve the call and chat data even if it was deleted.