Hyderabad, April 28 (). The Telangana High Court on Friday refused to pass any order on a plea seeking a CBI inquiry into the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) exam paper leak case.
The court directed the SIT to report on the status of the probe on June 5. The court noted that the investigation by the SIT is satisfactory to some extent but is not progressing rapidly.
The court was hearing a plea by NSUI leader Venkat Balamoor, seeking direction for a CBI probe. The court clarified that it cannot pass any order at this stage.
The court also wanted to know how much time the SIT would take to complete the probe. It remarked that even after a month and a half, the SIT has not completed the investigation.
Advocate General B.S. Prasad told the court that the SIT was waiting for the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).
The counsel for the SIT told the court that the SIT has examined the chairman, secretary and a member of TSPSC.
The court was told that the investigation is going on under the supervision of the Hyderabad Police Commissioner.
The judge sought to know whether the SIT had questioned all the outsourcing employees of TSPSC and how many people had benefited from the paper leak.
The court directed the SIT to submit a report on the progress made in the investigation on June 5 and adjourned the hearing.
Last week, the SIT arrested a man and his son from Mahbubnagar, taking the number of arrests so far to 19.
The TSPSC scam came to light on March 12, which led to the arrest of 15 accused, besides cancellation of Group-I preliminary exam, assistant engineer, AEE and DAO exams.
Praveen Kumar, working as an assistant section officer in TSPSC, and Rajasekhara Reddy, working as a network administrator in ATSPSC, had allegedly stolen question papers of some examinations from a computer in a confidential section of the commission and uploaded it Was sold to other accused.
The SIT had earlier informed the Telangana High Court that it has arrested 17 accused in the case since March 13. She also informed the court that she is making efforts to arrest another accused from New Zealand.
The exam paper leak case created a sensation in Telangana as opposition parties Congress and BJP blamed the BRS government for the leak affecting lakhs of unemployed in the state.
The SIT summoned TSPS President Janardhana Reddy, Secretary Anita Ramachandran and member B.K. Linga Reddy has also been questioned.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing allegations of money laundering in the case. Last week, it had questioned Praveen Kumar and Rajasekhara Reddy.
ED officials are believed to have interrogated both the accused on the basis of inputs received from Shankar Lakshmi, in-charge of the confidential section cell at TSPSC. She appeared before the ED on April 11 and was questioned for over 10 hours.
Praveen and Rajasekhar are said to have stolen question papers from computers in the confidential section of various examinations conducted by the TSPSC for recruitment to government departments.
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