While 17 people have been arrested so far in the case, efforts are on to nab another accused in New Zealand.
The two TSPSC employees have been asked to appear before the ED on 12 and 13 April. (Creative Commons)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, 11 April, summoned two officials of the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) in connection with the Assistant Engineer (AE) question paper leak case days after it registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).
It has also approached the Nampally court to examine two key accused — kingpin Praveen Kumar and network administrator Rajashekhar Reddy — in the case. The court posted the matter for Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Hyderabad Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Tuesday submitted its status report before the Telangana High Court in a sealed cover.
A total of 17 people have been arrested so far in the case, the latest being a couple — Sai Laukik and his wife Sushmita — on 7 April for buying the District Accounts Officer (DAO) exam papers from Praveen.
The two TSPSC employees have been asked to appear before the ED on 12 and 13 April. These are Shankar Lakshmi and Satyanarayana.
Question papers were leaked from confidential section officer Shankar Lakshmi’s computer, whom the SIT has mentioned as a witness.
As per reports, further action in the case will be taken on the basis of information obtained from the two.
Suspecting that some of the relatives of the accused came from abroad to appear for the Group-1 preliminary exam, the ED moved the court to record the statement of the accused under section 50 (summon a person and record their statement) of the 2002 Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Section 48 and 49 of the PMLA gives ED officials the right to investigate
This is following the allegations that those who leaked the question paper received money from abroad through hawala channels.
In its petition to the court, the agency also mentioned that it has also written to the Hyderabad police asking it to share documents pertaining to the case for a detailed probe.
The ED also asked the court to direct the Superintendent of the Chanchalguda Jail — where the accused are lodged under judicial custody — to allow laptops, printers and other electronic gadgets into the jail for recording the statements.
Hearing the petition of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) — a student wing of the Congress — leader B Venkat Rao, the court had directed the SIT to submit the report.
While expressing doubts over the SIT probe into the issue, the petitioner’s counsel had earlier submitted before the court that there may not be a fair and transparent investigation by the SIT as it is confined to a few lower-rank employees of the TSPSC.
SIT chief and Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes and SIT) AR Srinivas had told South First that it had questioned 100 of the 121 students who scored over 100 marks in the exam. “We will question all 121 of them to investigate whether any of them leaked the question paper or tried to use it for their own benefit,” he said.
The SIT had also recorded statements of the TSPSC Chairman B Janardhan Reddy (as a witness), Secretary Anita Ramachandran and member Linga Reddy in the question paper leak case.
Meanwhile, the petitioner Venkat Rao has sought a comprehensive inquiry into the paper leak issue by the CBI.
As per reports, Telangana Advocate General (AG) BS Prasad submitted to the court that out of the total 18 accused, 17 have been arrested by the SIT while efforts were on to arrest another accused presently in New Zealand.
The court asked the AG whether candidates were allowed to appear in the examinations as per rules. It also sought details like the name of the agency which was outsourced the task of conducting the exams.
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