UP paper leak: 3 journalists among 34 arrested, sent to judicial custody

The three Ballia-based journalists are Ajit Ojha and Digvijay Singh of Amar Ujala newspaper, and Manoj Gupta of Rashtriya Sahara newspaper.

Ballia District Inspector Of Schools (DIOS) Brijesh Mishra is also among those arrested. Police had earlier said that several teachers, including government and private school teachers, have been arrested.

Following his arrest, Digvijay Singh of Amar Ujala on Thursday told reporters that the district administration was trying to silence journalists for reporting on the paper leak.

“I am the zonal in-charge of Bharatiya Rashtriya Patrakar Sangh and a correspondent of Amar Ujala in the Nagra region of Ballia… Based on (information from) my sources, I got the solved (Class X) Sanskrit question paper… and sent it to my newspaper. It (the report) was published in the newspaper… The next day, Amar Ujala got the (Class XII) English paper, which also got reported,” Digvijay Singh said.

“I have been harassed… If we published it (the leaked question paper) in the newspaper, then it should be probed how the paper got leaked. They are repeatedly asking me where I got the paper from. I have told them that I got it from a source,” he said.

Police, however, have contradicted his claim, saying that the Class X Sanskrit paper was not leaked. “That is not true as per the information gathered by us,” a senior police officer said.

On Wednesday, when the Class XII English paper had got leaked, Ajit Ojha, who works for Amar Ujala and is also an assistant teacher, too had claimed that he was being framed.

“After the news (of the paper leak) was published, I received a phone call from DIOS (Brijesh Mishra). He asked if I have the question paper that has gone viral. I told him that the question paper was published in Amar Ujala… The questions were darkened, but you can see. He asked me for the question paper on WhatsApp. I ignored his request, but he called me again and asked for the same… Then the DM called me and asked for the same. I sent it to the DM too,” Ojha told reporters on Wednesday.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Virendra Arya, the Varanasi resident editor of Amar Ujala, said, “We did an internal probe on the two journalists (Ajit Ojha and Digvijay Singh) and they were found to be innocent. We are with them.”

The Indian Express reached out to Rashtriya Sahara Resident Editor (Lucknow) Vikas Shukla, but he declined to comment.

On the alleged role of the journalists, Ballia Superintendent of Police Raj Karan Nayyar said: “Since the investigation is going on, I can’t say what is the role of the journalists. But the arrests have been made based on their role and action is being taken accordingly. The question paper was found with one person, who was an assistant teacher and invigilator… When the time comes, we will release all the details.”

Despite repeated attempts and text messages, Ballia District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh could not be reached for comment.

On Friday, police arrested 10 more people in connection with the paper leak, taking the total number of arrests to 34.

“The fresh 10 arrests include parents and guardians who had acquired the (English) paper,” the SP said.
On Wednesday, the state Board cancelled the Class XII English examination in 24 districts, saying that one of two sets of the question paper had got leaked. The English exam will now be held on April 13.