HYDERABAD: The Telangana Public Service Commission (TSPSC) on Friday cancelled the examinations pertaining to the recruitment of Group 1 (preliminary examination), Assistant Executive Engineers (AEE) and Divisional Accounts Officer (DAO) posts after an inquiry into the paper leakage case by the Commission and Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The TSPSC has also decided to conduct the Group 1 preliminary examination again on June 11.
In a statement, the TSPSC said, “A special meeting of the Commission is convened today (Friday) at 11.30 am and after careful examination of the report of SIT and internal inquiry conducted by the Commission, it was decided to cancel the following examination.”
The TSPSC informed the job aspirants that they will intimate the dates for the remaining cancelled examinations shortly. Pictures of an accused, Atla Rajashekar Reddy, with BJP leaders are being widely circulated on social media platforms.
It may be recalled that the TSPSC has already cancelled the examination pertaining to the recruitment of Assistant Engineers, Municipal Assistant Engineers, Technical Officers and Junior Technical Officers. The TSPSC also postponed the examinations for the recruitment of Town Planning and Building Overseers and veterinary assistant surgeon posts.
When the police established leakage of the question papers pertaining to engineers’ posts, they also suspected the possibility of other recruitment examination question papers, including Group 1, being leaked.
The Commission and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) found the question papers from the devices belonging to Rajashekhar Reddy and Pulidindi Praveen Kumar, a Personal Assistant to the TSPSC secretary. Praveen Kumar scored 103 marks in the Group 1 preliminary examination, giving ammunition to the suspicion of question paper leaks.
According to sources, the SIT has found that Atla Rajashekar Reddy (32), a network admin, is the prime accused who had illegally accessed the confidential section to steal the question papers. Several pictures showing him posing with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are being widely circulated on social media platforms.
Sources said Rajashekhar Reddy, an outsourcing employee, sought deputation to the TSPSC from the Telangana State Technology Services with malafide intentions. The SIT also suspects that Rajashekhar Reddy used the network admin privileges to view the login credentials of confidential sections.
The SIT found that it was Rajashekhar Reddy who copied five different question papers on a USB drive and gave it to Praveen Kumar.
Sources said Shanker Laxmi, the section superintendent of the confidential section, disputed writing her password on a notebook. Rajashekhar Reddy is learned to have stolen the question papers on February 27. The SIT is also looking into whether any of the other employees of TSPSC are connected with the case.
Over 4 lakh impacted
Over 4 lakh candidates, who had appeared for the different recruitment exams will have to take them again
Probe showed the accused accessed the passwords illegally to steal the papers
Investigators said money is believed to the primary motive
PA to TSPSC secretary, Praveen, had access to the confidential section
The question paper for AE recruitment was leaked on February 27 while it came to light on March 11 and the accused were arrested on March 12