Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of Telangana High Court on Friday directed the State government to file a fresh status report by June 5 over the ongoing investigation into the leak of question papers of exams conducted by Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC).
After perusing the two status reports filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case of leak of question papers, the judge observed that a senior Indian Police Service officer could be asked to oversee the investigation. The Commissioner of Hyderabad, Cyberabad or Rachakonda could review the investigation.
The senior police officer, after studying the probe, can file a status report in the HC, the judge said. He asked the State government to explore this possibility and give consent to supervision of the probe by a senior police officer.
Justice Vijaysen Reddy noted that he was of the view that ‘prima facie the investigation into the case was slow’. He remarked that he was, however, satisfied with the probe done so far. It had been more than six weeks since Begumbazar police issued the First Information Report (FIR) over TSPSC question paper leak. Yet, the real culprits who masterminded the leak of the question paper were yet to be identified.
The judge raised several queries about the leak of question papers. He sought clarifications from Advocate General B.S. Prasad and Hyderabad Central Crime Station Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Narsinga Rao, who were present in the court. The judge sought to know how many of the outsourced employees working with the TSPSC appeared for the Group I preliminary examination and how many of them secured more than 100 marks.
The court also asked them how many of the regular employees of the Commission got over 100 marks in the same exam. The AG informed the court that 18 outsourced employees appeared for the exam. But only one of them secured no objection certificate to appear for the exam. Others were being questioned to ascertain their possible link to the case. Further evidence would emerge in the case once the report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory over the digital material reaches the investigators, he said.
