TSPSC Paper Leak: Group 1 Prelims, AEE, DAO exams cancelled

Hyderabad: The TSPSC question paper leak is playing spoilsport for lakhs of job aspirants in Telangana as more and more irregularities are coming out.

Tthe Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) on Friday gave a notification cancelling the Group 1 Prelims exam conducted on October 16 last year after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) confirmed that the paper was also leaked. The commission announced the Group 1 Prelims test will be conducted on June 11, 2023.

Two other exams for the recruitment of AEE (Assistant Executive Engineer) and DAO (Divisional Accounts Officer) held on January 22 and February 26, respectively, were also cancelled. However, the dates for these exams will be announced soon, it said.

The commission took the decision to cancel the three exams as the SIT brought to light the exam paper leak with substantial evidence gathered from the arrested Praveen and Rajashekhar Reddy on Friday.

It may be recalled here that the commission had earlier cancelled Town Planning and Veterinary Official recruitment exams.

The investigating agency in its report said that Rajashekhar was the main accused in the paper leak scam. With the help of Assistant Section Officer Praveen, the system administrator Rajashekhar hacked the computers and retrieved the question papers. The main accused had used pen drive to store the papers and sold them to outsiders.

The report also disclosed that Gurukul teacher Renuka maintained good relations with the two accused and sold the question papers to outsiders by taking hefty money.

The SIT has explained to TSPSC Chairman B Janardhan Reddy about the poor maintenance of systems without adequate cyber security, sources said. "The main reason behind the paper leak is the lower rung officials have been given access to the confidential rooms maintained by the top officials during the examination time," the sources said.

The local court granted police custody of the accused.