Telangana BJP chief detained during protest over paper leak

Hyderabad, March 17: The Hyderabad Police on Friday detained Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay, MLA Eatala Rajender and others when they were trying to march to the office of Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) office to protest exam paper leak.

Tension prevailed at Telangana Martyrs' Memorial Gun Park near Assembly building when police stopped Sanjay and other BJP leaders from proceeding towards TSPSC office in Nampally.

The police officers told BJP leaders that there was no permission for a rally.

As Sanjay and his supporters tried to march forward, police forcibly stopped them.

This led to pushing and jostling between the two sides.

Police detained Sanjay, Rajender and B. Narsaiah Goud. Both were whisked away in a vehicle to police station.

The BJP workers tried to stop the police vehicle carrying their leaders but police arrested them.

The protest triggered tension in the busy area in central Hyderabad and disrupted movement of traffic.

Earlier, Sanjay along with a large number of supporters took out a padyatra from BJP office to Gun Park.

The protesters were raising slogans against the BRS government and displaying placards to protest over leakage of question paper of an exam recently conducted by the TSPSC for recruitment of assistant engineers in various departments.

Sanjay, who is also a Member of Parliament, had announced that after paying tributes to Telangana martyrs, he will sit on protest at BJP office.

However, suddenly changing his plan he sat on protest at Gun Park.

Police told him that there is no permission for the protest. However, he remained seated there with his supporters. Some police officials held talks with him.

With the police softening their stand, Sanjay continued protest for some time.

Later, he announced that he will march to TSPSC office. Police immediately went on alert and prevented him and others from taking out the rally.

The BJP leader demanded probe by a sitting judge into the question paper leakage.

Alleging that leaders of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) were involved in the scam, he said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police cannot conduct an impartial probe.

Earlier, the police also arrested Youth Congress leaders and workers who tried to march towards TSPSC office from Congress headquarters Gandhi Bhavan.

Police also arrested BSP's Telangana unit president R.S. Praveen Kumar when he began hunger strike at party office in Lakdi Ka Pul area.

He was demanding a CBI inquiry into the paper leak.