ED to question key accused in TSPSC paper leak case

Hyderabad: In a significant development in the Telangana State Public Service (TSPSC) exam paper leak case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has entered the scene to question tge key accused.

The central agency filed a petition in the Nampally court, seeking permission to question Praveen Kumar and Rajasekhar Reddy, both suspended employees of the TSPSC who are currently in judicial custody.

As there were allegations of money laundering, the ED moved the court to record the statement of the accused under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency submitted to the court that it has the powers to take up investigation under Sections 48 and 49.

The ED has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report, based on the media reports, information in public domain and preliminary inputs from intelligence.

The court was told that a four-member team of ED officials will record the statements of the accused.

The ED also sought court’s direction to Chanchalguda Jail superintendent to allow laptops, printer and other electronic gadgets into the jail for recording the statements.

The agency also mentioned in its petition that it had written to the Central Crime Station (CCS) on March 23 seeking documents and details of the case. It sought a direction to the police to hand over the case details.

The ED has also issued notices to two TSPSC officials, including confidential section officer Shankara Lakshmi. They have been asked to appear for questioning on April 12 and 13. The accused had stolen the question papers from Lakshmi’s computer.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Hyderabad police probing the paper leak on Tuesday submitted its investigation report to the Telangana High Court in a sealed cover. Hearing the petition of NSUI leader Balamoori Venkat, the court had directed the SIT to submit the report.

The Advocate General submitted to the court that out of 18 accused, 17 have been arrested by the SIT while efforts were on to arrest another accused who is in New Zealand.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that he has no trust in SIT which works under the state government. He also submitted to the court that the SIT investigation is confined to few lower-rank employees of the TSPSC. Stating that the ED is talking about transactions from abroad, he said investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alone can bring out the facts.

The court asked the Advocate General whether candidates were allowed to appear in the examinations as per rules and sought details like the name of the agency which was outsourced the task of conducting the exams.

The paper leak issue rocked the TSPSC last month. Two employees broke into a computer system in the confidential section of TSPSC, stole question papers, and shared them with others.

The TSPSC has cancelled four examinations conducted by it including the preliminary exam conducted for recruitment to Group-1 posts in the government departments.

The SIT has also recorded the statements of TSPSC Chairman, Secretary and a member and also questioned several candidates who had scored good marks in Group-1 exam.