Pune: Army Major In Police Custody For Seven Days In Paper Leak Case
Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 8th March 2021: A special court today remanded an arrested Indian Army Major in police custody till March 15 in connection with a paper leak case. The all-India Army Relation Recruitment examination scheduled for February 28 had to be cancelled as the leaked paper matched 100% with the real paper.
Crime Branch ACP Laxman Borate produced arrested accused Major Thiru Murugan (45) before the court of Special Judge Satyanarayan Navandar around 3.30 pm at the District Court premises in Shivajinagar.
Police sought his custody for further investigation and unearth the conspiracy. “The accused has deleted WhatsApp conversation and it has to be retrieved”, the public prosecutor argued.
Defence lawyer Rahul Lonandkar opposed his police custody demand as police have already seized his phone and he has been in custody since Sunday. “Deleted WhatsApp conversation can be retrieved by experts without custody of the accused”, the defence lawyer said.
After hearing both sides, Special Judge Satyanarayan Navandar in his order stated that accused Major Thiru Murugan is a ‘key person’ in the paper leak case. “Considering the seriousness of the case, his custodial interrogation is required. As per the case papers, he had sent leaked question paper to earlier arrested accused”, the judge said.
The FIR in the cheating case is registered with the Wanowrie police station. Now, police have added charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Army officer was detained in Wellington, Tamil Nadu, and brought to Pune on Sunday.
According to police, about 30,000 candidates were to appear for the common entrance exam at 40 centres across India.
