Who is Dr P Narayana, the Narayana Group owner arrested for exam paper leak
By Team Newsable | First Published May 10, 2022, 2:39 PM ISTPolice in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday arrested former Telugu Desam Party Minister and Narayana Group of educational institutions founder Dr Ponguru Narayana in connection with the alleged leak of question papers in the ongoing SSC exam for Class X students.
Police in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday arrested former Telugu Desam Party Minister and Narayana Group of educational institutions founder, Dr Ponguru Narayana, in connection with the alleged leak of question papers in the ongoing SSC exam for Class X students.
Who is Dr Ponguru Narayana?
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Born in 1957 at Nellore, Dr Ponguru's came from a humble background.
He graduated from the SV University in Tirupati with a Gold Medal in Statistics in 1977 followed by a postgraduate degree in the same discipline in 1979 from Sri Venkateswara University.
Dr Ponguru began his career as a contract lecturer in Nellore's VR College. He gave up the job to start his own private coaching centre which would train aspirants for the Eamcet and IIT-JEE. Over the years, his popularity grew and he went to become the chairman of an educational group, which has colleges for medical and engineering education. The group also runs hundreds of junior colleges and coaching centres.
He was appointed as the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister in 2014. When he was contesting the assembly elections from Nellore city in 2019, he declared assets worth Rs 274.2 crore. His wife, Ponguru Ramadevi -- a homemaker -- too had assets worth Rs 397 crore.
In his 2019 election affidavit, Narayana stated his profession as 'public life', but disclosed an income of Rs 2.63 crore based on 2017-18 income tax returns. Dr Ponguru's moveable assets were then worth Rs 73.57 crore while total immovable assets -- based on 2019 market rates -- were worth Rs 198 crore. He went on to lose the election.
The immovable assets included mainly non-agricultural land across locations such as Chintareddy Palem and Nellore among others and commercial buildings in various places in Hyderabad and Nellore.
What led Dr Ponguru Narayana's arrest?
The police, according to the media reports, are investigating a teacher who works at Narayana College in Tirupati and had allegedly leaked a photo of the question paper an hour after the exam began and posted it on a social media group.
Other question papers, according to police, were leaked in a similar manner in various districts. A total of 45 teachers have been booked in connection with the case.
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