The Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed to probe the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) question paper leak case on Saturday questioned two accused employees of the commission about the modus operandi of stealing the confidential documents.
The SIT began its first day of questioning on Saturday after the court allowed the police six days’ custody of a total of nine accused.
The investigating officer took Pulidindi Praveen Kumar, who worked as an assistant section officer at TSPSC, and Atala Rajasekhara Reddy, network administrator at TSPSC, to the office on Saturday morning and was accompanied by a cybercrime team. There he was interrogated for about two hours. It was learned that both were careful about their movements in the office to steal the question papers and also allegedly tampered with the CCTV cameras installed in the office premises.
Praveen and Rajasekhar were accused of conniving with others in leaking the Assistant Engineer (AE Civil) exam paper by copying files from the office computer. After the arrest, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner CV Anand handed over the case to the SIT.
It was also learned that he started the scheme several weeks ago and the role of other parties in the case is also being probed. He was questioned about how he changed the IP address and password to gain access to the classified files. The officers also questioned him about his movements over the past few weeks and asked him about the people he had met.
Sources said Praveen was evasive during interrogation and the officials caught his bluff by corroborating his statement with the statements of others and tallying it with the timeline of events.
Praveen’s friend Renuka, a teacher, and her husband Lavadyavath Dhakya, with the help of Kethavath Srinivas, a police constable from Medchal, took the papers and sold it to others. Police said, “Praveen Kumar and Rajasekhar handed over papers worth Rs 5 lakh on March 2. Thereafter, after the exam was conducted on March 6, Rs 5 lakh was handed over to Praveen.”