The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday said three journalists were among those arrested in connection to Class 12 English exam question paper leak in Ballia district, PTI reported. Over 30 people have been arrested in the case, according to police.

The journalists have been identified as Ajit Ojha, Digvijay Singh and Manoj Gupta.

On March 30, Uttar Pradesh Board’s Class 12 examination for English was cancelled in 24 of the state’s 75 districts after the question paper got leaked. On March 29, the first day of the exams itself, the answer key for the Sanskrit question paper of Class 10 had also been leaked.

Chief Minister Adityanath had directed officials to take stringent actions, including charging the accused persons under the stringent National Security Act.

The police have made several arrests since then, including eight on Friday. Three separate first information reports have been registered in Ballia City Kotwali, Nagara and Sikandarpur police stations.

Shivnarayan Vaishya, the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Rasra city of Ballia district told PTI that one of the arrested persons, Mulayam Chauhan, is allegedly the mastermind behind the question paper leak. Those arrested will be produced before a judicial magistrate, Vaishya said.

Meanwhile, Digvijay Singh, one of the three journalists who have been arrested, claimed on Friday that he was held for not revealing his source to the police.

Singh told reporters that he was associated with Hindi daily Amar Ujala and had reported on the leak of the Sanskrit question paper’s answer key on March 29.

The next day, Amar Ujala reported on the English question paper leak too, Singh said, adding that he was held after that and “tortured” for not telling the police how he got access to the question papers.

However, according to The Wire, there has been no statement from Amar Ujala on the arrests so far. While it has published a report on the arrest, it has not mentioned Singh as one of its journalists.