Chennai: Amid reports that the Group IV examination conducted by the Tamilnadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) last year would be cancelled after malpractice was found in the answer sheets of nearly 99 candidates, Minister for Fisheries, Personnel and Administrative Reforms D Jayakumar today held a meeting with top officials here.
Speaking to reporters later, the Minister said, ”Malpractise has taken place in only two centers and the TNPSC must not be discredited as the exams were carried out in a fair manner. People must not lose trust in it.”
Commenting on the ongoing inquiry he said, ”The investigations by CB-CID was on the right track and the culprits will be brought to book soon. So far 13 persons have been arrested.”
The CB-CID which is carrying out an investigation into the case suspect a policeman from Sivagangai to be involved in the scam. As per reports, four members of a policeman’s family cleared the Group IV exam held last year. A team is carrying out inquiries into the allegations.
As many as 13 persons were detained so far in the TNPSC scam. Three of them were government staff, with the others being middlemen and candidates.
The Commission said 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 answers after the exam. Thirty nine of them came with in the top 100 ranks in the Group IV exam.
They initially shaded answers using a special ink, which disappears after a few hours, so that they could then shade the right answers.
The CB-CID also arrested H Omkanthan, a Record Clerk of the TNPSC, for allegedly taking bribe and helping the alleged main accused Jayakumar with the crime.
Jayakumar approached Omkanthan and offered him a bribe of Rs 15 lakh to let him manipulate the answer sheets of 99 candidates of two centres before handing them over to TNPSC. He had received Rs 2 lakh as an advance, it is said. Jayakumar of Mugappair is yet to be arrested.
