Explained: How did the Telangana recruitment paper leak?

Police have arrested nine people in connection with the paper leak, including government officials working with the Telangana State Public Service Commission.
Protests at TSPSC, Nampally
Protests at TSPSC, Nampally
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Around 55,000 aspirants attended a competitive exam conducted for the post of Assistant Engineer (AE) in various departments on March 5, 2023, by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC). Little did they know that the same paper they wrote the exam for, had already been leaked to a few candidates. The paper leak came to light only when TSPSC complained to the Begum Bazar police on March 11 in Hyderabad, which resulted in the arrest of nine people, including two TSPSC staffers on March 13. 

Following the arrests, protests erupted at the TSPSC office in Nampally. Student wings of various political outfits, including Akhila Bharata Vidya Parishad (BJP students wing), PDSU (Progressive Democratic Students Union) and Aam Aadmi Party, took part in the protest. They demanded the cancellation of the examination and the resignation of TSPSC Chairman B Janardhan Reddy from the post. Police detained the protestors and shifted them to a police station. TSPSC is yet to take a call on whether the exams will be conducted again. 

Meanwhile, as the two accused employees of TSPSC allegedly copied folders containing question papers of various exams from computers in the confidential section, the Commission postponed the recruitment examinations to the posts of Town Planning Building Overseer scheduled on March 12, and Veterinary Assistant Surgeon scheduled to be held on March 15 and 16.

Sold question paper for monetary benefits

According to the Hyderabad police, the accused leaked the question paper for monetary benefits. It all started with P Praveen Kumar (32), who was working as an Assistant Section Officer (ASO) and Rajashekar Reddy (35), a network administrator with the Telangana State Technology Services, outsourced to the Commission. “Both of them managed to steal the data from the computer of the confidential section using the IT knowledge of Rajasekhar Reddy. They transferred the data to a USB drive belonging to Praveen Kumar’s and took a printout of the (Civil) exam paper and General Studies paper,” according to the police.

Praveen sold the paper to accused Renuka, a Hindi teacher and her husband Dhakya Nayak for Rs 10 lakh. The money was paid in two installments with Rs 5 lakh paid as advance, and the rest paid after the exam.

Police investigation also revealed that another accused Rajeshwar Nayak, the brother-in-law of accused Dhakya Nayak, contacted his cousin Kethavath Srinivas, a constable in Medchal Police Station. Rajeshwar asked Srinivas whether he wanted to purchase the question paper, as the latter was preparing for government exams. Srinivas refused as he was preparing for sub-inspector recruitment. However, K Srinivas directed Rajeshwar to other aspirants, Nilesh Nayak and Gopal Nayak, who were preparing for the AE exam. They struck a deal for Rs 13.50 lakh for the paper and bought it.

Police are also investigating if the accused had leaked question papers of other exams held earlier. The case was transferred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, TSPSC has suspended P Praveen Kumar with immediate effect, pending further departmental inquiry and disciplinary action.

Reacting to the same, on Tuesday, March 14, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has sought a detailed report from the TSPSC about the incident.

(With IANS inputs)

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