Professor held in Chhattisgarh paper leak case; police personnel say he inserted endoscopic camera in sealed envelope

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A view of the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya. Photo Credit: iauaindia.org

A professor at a private college in Chhattisgarh ’s Durg district and five students from the same institution were arrested for their alleged roles in the leak of an Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV) entomology question paper , police said on Saturday (August 22, 2026).

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Cyber) Smruthik Rajanala told The Hindu that 38-year-old Yogesh Sonkesariya, a professor at Bharti Agriculture College in Durg, had allegedly used an endoscopic camera to capture images of the question papers that he received in a sealed envelope and then shared them with his fellow accused before the exam, which was scheduled to be held on August 20. The officer alleged that the accused were also involved in leaking the question paper of another examination that was scheduled for August 7.

On August 20, an agricultural entomology exam — AENT 221 [Pest Management in crops and stored grains-I(Rabi Crops)] — for second-year students of B.Sc. (Agriculture), was cancelled after it was alleged that the question paper had been leaked. The exam was written by 1,500 students enrolled in different colleges affiliated with IGKV, a government-run university here.

The DCP said Mr. Sonkesariya had received the set of question papers in a sealed envelope on August 17. “He then inserted an endoscopic camera into the envelope through a tiny hole and captured the contents… The question paper was a one-page document with all the content printed on the same side. He then used glue to cover the opening through which the camera was inserted,” said Mr Rajanala.

After the examination was cancelled, the university administration filed a police complaint, saying that the Agriculture College and Research Centre at Kawardha received an email at 8.41 am, in which it was claimed that the paper had leaked. Other officials received the email at 8:54 am.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered against unidentified persons under the Chhattisgarh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2008, and Section 316 (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

A team of more than 100 police personnel, including members of the Anti-Crime and Cyber Unit as well as personnel from the Telibandha police station, was formed to probe the leak.

Investigators analysed the viral question paper, screenshots, photographs, messages and social media posts, and traced the source of the leak to a student in Durg, through whom Mr. Sonkesariya and the other accused were traced, officials said.

During questioning, Mr. Sonkesariya confessed that he sold the questions to some students for around ₹12,000, officials claimed. The questions were further circulated by those students, he purportedly told investigators.

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