Crime branch probe sought on theft of answer booklets

Thiruvananthapuram: The local police team probing the alleged theft of Kerala University answer booklets by SFI leaders of University College has sought the Crime Branch to take over the probe.
Two days ago, the current investigation officer, inspector M Anilkumar of Cantonment police station, forwarded a request in this regard to the higher ups.
According to the police, the investigation officer has made this move in order to complete the probe in an efficient and timebound manner.
Currently, the local police team led by Cantonment station house officer M Anilkumar is probing three related cases; the attempt to murder University College student Akhil S Chandran; the probe into the alleged stolen KU answer booklets found from the residence of Sivarenjith, who is prime accused in the attempt-to-murder case; and a forgery case related to the fake rubber stamp of KU physical education director, which was also found in Sivarenjith’s residence.
There are around 30 suspects in the attempt-to-murder case, out of which the investigation team could arrest only eight persons so far. As many as 11 more suspects identified are yet to be arrested. Search is on to find and arrest them. Also, the same officers have to deal with the law and order issues that happen under their station limits, which involves security around the secretariat and frequent protest marches.
“The case on theft of answer booklets requires a lot of research and perusal of documents to check whether the accused had used the stolen booklets to resort to malpractice during exams,” an officer said. Hence it was better if an agency like Crime Branch, which had more resources than the local police, probes the case.
The theft of answer booklets and forgery of rubber stamp came out when the police conducted raid in the residence of Sivarenjith when he was still wanted in connection with the attempt-to-murder case. After his arrest, he told the police that he had shared some of the stolen booklets to his friend and SFI leader Pranav, who is also a suspect in the attempt-to-murder case.
The police also found out that Kerala University had conducted exams on the dates mentioned in the booklets seized from Sivarenjith. Though the police requested KU authorities to handover the answer sheets of Sivarenjith and Pranav from those exams, the latter are yet to comply this request.