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Massive Fraud Unravelled In Tamil Nadu PSC: Disappearing Ink Used Then Answers Re-Marked By Corrupt Officials
Swarajya Staff
Jan 25, 2020, 09:55 AM | Updated 09:55 AM IST
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A massive fraud has been unravelled in Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) Group-IV Services examination conducted on 1 September, 2019, reports The Hindu.
TNPSC has debarred 99 candidates for life for indulging in malpractices in the said examination. An FIR has also been filed against these 99 candidates, while three person have so far been arrested in the case.
The report quotes Crime Branch CID officers as saying that 99 candidates used evaporating ink to mark the answers to objective type question. After the ink evaporated, two officers responsible for transporting the transcripts to safe custody marked the right answers in the sheet.
Reportedly, 39 such candidates passed the exam and made it to top 100. It should be noted that 16,29,865 candidates appeared for filling up 9,398 posts in the Group-IV exams conducted by TNPSC, for which the results were declared on 12 November 2019.
The fraud came to light when the certificate verification of the successful candidates was under way and some candidates discovered that most of the toppers belonged to Rameswaram and Keelakarai centres which raised suspicion and an issue was raised to the concerned authority.
As per reports, the case was cracked by a special team under the direct supervision of Director-General of Police M S Jaffar Sait, who also unravelled the modus operandi of the suspects.
The two suspect tahsildars were taken into custody in Ramanathapuram and brought to Chennai for interrogation while special teams are on the lookout for one Jayakumar of Anna Nagar, Chennai, who is alleged to be the kingpin, and his associates.
According to officials, the candidates were asked to opt for Rameswaram or Keelakarai examination centre. The suspect officials charged Rs 10-12 lakh from each of the candidates for the said act.
The candidates were given two pens on the examination day, one normal pen to write their registration number and other important details, while the other pen had disappearing ink which was to be used for marking answers in the transcript.
The officials are also saying that there are credible inputs now that similar operations could have been deployed in earlier examinations by the suspects.
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