Over Rs 1.63 crore was transacted for buying and selling of question papers of various exams conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC), reveals the chargesheet filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana Police on Friday.
Nearly three months after the sensational paper leak case came to light, the SIT filed the preliminary charge sheet in Nampally Criminal Court.
A.R. Srinivas, Additional Commissioner of Police, Crimes & SIT, said that as of now, 49 accused individuals have been arrested in connection with the case, while one person, currently residing in New Zealand, is still at large.
On March 11, 2023, a complaint was lodged by Satyanarayana, Assistant Secretary of TSPSC, leading to the registration of a case at Begum Bazar Police Station.
The case was later transferred to Central Crime Station (CCS), Hyderabad, where it was re-registered.
A dedicated team was assigned to support the investigating officer, P. Venkateshwarlu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), SIT, CCS, Hyderabad.
During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that accused number one Pulidindi Praveen Kumar, an Assistant Section Officer (ASO) and (PA) to the Secretary of TSPSC, along with A-2 Atla Raja Shekar, an outsourcing employee working as a System/Network Administrator in TSPSC, conspired and gained unauthorized access to the confidential section's computer which stored and compiled question papers for various exams.
They downloaded/copied the question papers of Group - I, Divisional Accounts Officer (DAO), Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), and Assistant Engineer (AE) exams onto their pen drives. Subsequently, they shared these question papers with multiple candidates through intermediaries to make illicit profits, the official said.
Among the arrested individuals, 16 middlemen have been identified.
They are -- A-3 Renuka Rathode, A-4 Lavdyavath Dhakya, A-5 Kethavath Rajeshwar, A-8 Kethavath Srinivas, A-9 Kethavath Rajender Naik, A-15 D.Thirupathaiah, A-17 Y. Sai Loukik, A-20 Kosgi Maibaiah, A-22 Kosgi Bhagwanth Kumar, A-23 Kontham Muralidhar Reddy, A-24 Akula Manoj Kumar, A-31 Kontham Shashidhar Reddy, A-35 Ramavath Dattu, A-38 Poola Ravi Kishore, A-46 Guguloth Srinu Naik and A-50 Paola Ramesh.
The SIT official said these accused provided the AEE question paper to 7 candidates (A-25 Aadi Saibabu, A-26 Ponnarri Varun Kumar, A-30 Gunreddy Kranthi Kumar Reddy, A-36 Ajmira Prithvi Raj, A-47 Bhukya Mahesh, A-48 Mudavath Prashanth and A-49 Vadithya Naresh. The mediators provided the AE question paper to 13 candidates A-6 Kethavath Neelesh Naik, A-7 Pathlavath Gopal Naik, A-13 Allipur Prashanth Reddy, A-14 Tineti Rajender Kumar, A-19 Kosgi Venkata Janardhan, A-21 Kosgi Ravi Kumar, A-27 Ramavath Mahesh, A-28 Mudavath Shiva Kumar, A-37 Jadhav Rajeshwar, A-41 Dhanavath Bharath Naik, A-42 Pashikanti Rohith Kumar, A-43 Gade Sai Madhu and A-44 Lokini Satish Kuma.
The DAO question paper was provided to 8 candidates (A-18 Yedunuthula Sai Sushmitha, A-29 Danamneni Ravi Teja, A-32 Gambeeram Purandar Nutan Rahul Kumar, A-33 Atla Sucharitha, A-34 Smt Lavdya Shanthi, A-39 Rayapuram Vikram, A-40 Rayapuram Divya and A-45 Boddupally Narsing Rao.
Four accused individuals are TSPSC employees; A-1 Pulidindi Praveen Kumar, A-2 Atla Raja Shekar, A-10 Shameem and A-12 Damera Ramesh Kumar). Out of them Praveen Kumar, Shameem and Ramesh Kumar wrote the Group - I exam while Raja Shekar acted as a mediator.
Apart from them one more person A-11 Nalagoppula Suresh, a former outsourcing employee of TSPSC was also given Group - I question paper, Furthermore, 3 candidates were apprehended for engaging in malpractice during the AEE exam by using a battery-operated device.
SIT head Srinivas said all the material evidence seized during the arrest of the accused persons were sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Ramanthapur and experts' opinion was obtained.
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