Bengaluru, May 3 (DHNS): The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested Shivakumaraiah, the mastermind behind the II PU Chemistry question paper leak racket.

Shivakumaraiah alias Guruji, 66, a resident of Nandini Layout, was picked up from an under-construction building at Garvebhavipalya on Hosur Road in the city on Monday night, DGP (CID) H C Kishore Chandra told reporters.

He was absconding after the CID suspected his involvement in the question paper leak. He was produced before a local court and remanded in police custody for 15 days for further interrogation, said the police.

Shivakumaraiah frequently kept changing his hideouts. He went absconding from Malur, Kolar and several areas of Bengaluru City. After a tip-off that he was hiding in an under-construction building since a week, the police picked him up. The police seized Rs 50,000 from him, they added. “He was shocked and pleaded innocence. He kept saying that he did not know anything about the question paper leak racket,” the police said, adding that a search is on to arrest Shivakumaraiah’s son Dinesh and relative Kiran.

“It appears that the kingpin and Shivakumaraiah’s handler is someone else. Shivakumaraiah was handed the question papers for distribution. The kingpin trusted only Shivakumaraiah. A thorough interrogation of Shivakumaraiah will unfold the racket,” said a senior police officer.

The DGP said the accused had planned to leak CET question papers. However, strict measures by the police thwarted the plan, he said. There are six cases against him and the CID sleuths invoked the Karnataka Organised Crime Act to prevent him from obtaining bail.

Shivakumaraiah is proficient in music and yoga. He led a lavish life, drank only imported liquor and was a womaniser. He often dressed in white to appear ‘spiritual’. He only deposited the rent he collected from tenants occupying his many houses in the bank. The money earned from selling question papers was stashed away in his houses, the police said.