TSPSC paper leak case: SIT nabs two more

Hyderabad: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) exam paper leak case has arrested two more accused.

Mibayya and his son Janardhan, who hail from Mahabubnagar, have been arrested, taking the number of persons arrested so far to 19.

Mibayya had allegedly paid Rs 2 lakh to Lavdyavath Dhakya, one of the accused already arrested in the case, for a question paper of the exam conducted by TSPSC for recruitment of assistant engineers. Janardhan had appeared in the exam.

Dhakya is husband of Renuka, a teacher who had obtained question papers from prime accused Praveen Kumar, an employee in TSPSC. She had purchased the question paper for her brother Rajeshwar Nayak, who had appeared in the AE exam. She, along with Dhakya, had sold question papers to others.

The TSPSC scam came to light on March 12 which led to the arrest of 15 accused besides the cancellation of the Group 1 preliminary examination, Assistant Engineers, AEE, and DAO exams.

Praveen, who worked as an assistant section officer at TSPSC and Rajashekar Reddy, a network admin at TSPSC, had allegedly stolen question papers of some exams from a computer in a confidential section of the Commission and sold it to other accused.

The SIT had last week informed the Telangana High Court that it had arrested 17 accused in the case since March 13. It also informed the court that it was making efforts to arrest another accused from New Zealand.

The exam paper leak case created a sensation in Telangana as opposition parties Congress and BJP blamed the BRS government for the leak that affected lakhs of unemployed in the state.

The SIT has also examined TSPSC chairman Janardhan Reddy, secretary Anita Ramchandran and member B. Linga Reddy.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing money laundering charges in the case. Early this week, it questioned Praveen Kumar and Rajashekar Reddy.

The ED officials are believed to have questioned the two accused based on the information obtained from Shankara Lakshmi, incharge of the confidential section room at TSPSC. She had appeared before the ED on April 11 and was grilled for over 10 hours.

It was from the computer in the confidential section that Praveen and Rajasekhar had stolen question papers of various exams conducted by the TSPSC for recruitment in government departments.