Day III: PSC rank list under lens

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city special branch has launched an investigation into three suspects in the University College murder attempt case bagging top ranks in PSC’s recruitment test for civil police officers in Kerala armed police battalion-IV.
The probe was initiated based on directives by top police officers, special branch sources said. The three suspects winning top slots have triggered allegations of discrepancies in the PSC test.
Adding fuel to the allegations, a police raid found bundles of university answer sheets—blank as well as with answers of various subjects such as BSc Maths, Biology and BA—from prime suspect Sivarenjith’s house at Medumukku near Attukal on Sunday evening. Police said 16 booklets of answer sheets were recovered, including four bundles, each containing 12 blank answer sheets.
A rubber stamp of Kerala university’s physical education department director, too, was found, casting doubts over Sivarenjith’s achievements as a national-level archer. His supporters have been arguing on social media that he had got grace marks as an athlete, which propelled him to the top PSC slot. Though Sivarenjith, Naseem and SFI unit committee member Pranav had opted Kasaragod and Thrissur as exam centres, they took the test at centres in Thiruvananthapuram city. While Pranav secured the second rank, Naseem came 28th.
‘’We have reasons to suspect that Sivarenjith was involved in activities related to leaking of question papers. He might have stolen the answer sheets, filled them with answers and then sold to candidates. At first look, it seems all papers have the same handwriting,’’ a senior police officer said.
Though Naseem’s residence, too, was raided simultaneously, police could not find anything illegal.