Chennai: A broker was arrested today in Cuddalore in link with the malpractices in Tamilnadu Public Service Commission’s (TNPSC) Group IV examination held last year. One more person has also been detained, sources said.
The arrests were made even as the CB-CID officials continued their probe with 10 people including two Tahsildars for the second day today.
The allegations of malpractices by about hundred candidates in the TNPSC Group IV exam shocked the entire State following which a CB-CID probe was launched.
The CB-CID summoned Keezhakkarai and Rameshwaram Tahsildars for an inquiry yesterday. The TNPSC has banned 99 candidates for life from the Group IV exam after it found they had manipulated the answers by using a special ink. These 99 candidates from across the State had written the exam at Rameswaram and Keelakarai centres as per the instructions from brokers.
”A preliminary inquiry found that answer sheets of 52 candidates, out of 99, were manipulated by scamsters who shaded correct responses after the exam. Thirty nine of them came with in the top 100 ranks in the Group IV exam,” the TNPSC said.
”They shaded answers using a special ink, which disappears after a few hours, so that they could then shade the right answers”, according to TNPSC sources.
The Commission has replaced the 39 disqualified candidates on the merit list with new candidates. While they were questioned by officers during an inquiry, the candidates gave the same pattern of reply.
They did not have justifiable answers as to why they chose a particular center to appear for the exam, sources said.
The CB-CID registered a case after J K Tripathy refferred a formal complaint lodged by the TNPSC to probe the matter. It may be noted that the exam was conducted to fill up 6,491 vacancies in State government.
On 1 September 2019, more than 13 lakh candidates appeared for the Group IV exam and the results were announced on 12 November last year in a record 72 days.