Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former minister Ponguru Narayana, who was accused of his involvement in the Class X examination question paper leak case, has been able to get away from being thrown behind bars, thanks to the courts.
A local court in Chittoor upheld the bail granted to Narayana in the early hours of May 11, after approving the two sureties submitted by his lawyers on Tuesday.
The court dismissed the petition of the public prosecutor that Narayana should submit original documents and also appear in the court in person.
The advocates of Narayana argued that the two sureties, each for Rs 1 lakh, had been submitted as per the bail conditions and there was no need for him to appear in the court.
However, the state government had already filed an appeal in the district court seeking cancellation of the bail. The case will come up for hearing on May 24.
It may be mentioned that the state high court also granted anticipatory bail to two daughters and son-in-law of Narayana in the Class 10 question paper leak case.
Besides, Narayana’s daughter P Sharani, P Sindhura, son-in-law K Punith, 10 others of the Narayana group of educational institutions also got anticipatory bail.
On a house motion petition filed by them, Justice K Manmadha Rao passed the interim orders, directing the government not to take any hasty action against them. The court adjourned the hearing to May 18.
Narayana, the founder of Narayana Group of institutions, was last week arrested in the case. A team of Chittoor police had taken him into custody in Hyderabad on May 10. He was produced before a magistrate in Chittoor in the wee hours of May 11.
However, the magistrate granted bail to Narayana after agreeing with the contention of his counsel that he resigned from the post of the chairman of Narayana Group in 2014.
The case was registered on a complaint by the District Educational Officer (DEO) about the circulation of a Telugu language question paper on April 27.
