Chennai: With the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday transferring the investigation into the Tamilnadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) Group IV services examination scam of 2019 to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the CBI is expected to start the probe soon.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P Velmurugan directed the Crime Branch-CID (CB-CID) police to hand over the case records to the CBI.
The Judges also directed the CBI to conduct a free and fair investigation into the case and file a charge sheet as early as possible, without any inordinate delay.
The court passed the order during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate I.Mohamed Razvi, who sought a CBI probe into the scam.
In his petition, Razvi said during the TNPSC Group IV examination held in 2019, as many as 99 candidates reportedly used pens containing ‘vanishing ink’ to mark answers in OMR sheets at Rameswaram and Keelakarai exam centres in Ramanathapuram district.
Later, the correct answers were filled in by some persons who, allegedly with the help of two TNPSC staff, tampered with the answer sheets when they were being transported to Chennai in a van.
The TNPSC had disqualified 99 candidates, who are suspected to have indulged in malpractices, while appearing for Group-IV examinations in Rameswaram and Keelakkarai centres.
The Commission has further debarred these candidates from appearing in its examinations for life.
The CB-CID in its status report filed before the court on 10 November, informed that a total of 118 people, including 98 candidates (one candidate died), two TNPSC staff, driver of the van, and the main accused were arrested.
Since there was negligence on part of the TNPSC officials, who are supposed to check the seals of the answer sheet covers, disciplinary action was recommended.
Incriminating materials such as OMR sheets, mobile phones and laptops were sent for forensic analysis. The probe is progressing fast and once the lab report is ready, the final report will be filed before the concerned court, it said.
TNPSC held the Group-IV exams for filling up 9,398 posts on 1 September, 2019 in which 16,29,865 candidates, including 7.18 lakh women, 16,601 differently abled candidates and 4,973 destitute widows appeared at 5,575 centres across the State. The results were published in a record 72 days on 12 November, 2019.