The Crime Branch-CID (CB-CID) of the Tamil Nadu police will form a special investigation team to look into the multiple scams in various recruitments conducted by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).
With new cases of fraud being reported each day, the agency decided to form the SIT for a more focused probe, involving a dedicated team of investigators, sources in the CB-CID told The Hindu on Thursday.
While the police are making arrests of candidates who passed the Group-IIA (2017) and Group-IV Services (2019) examinations by fraudulent means, answer scripts of the suspects are being referred for forensic analysis, sources said.
Investigators are perusing allegations of foul play in the Combined Engineering Services examination for the recruitment of Junior Engineer (Architects) held last year.
The input is that 28 of the 33 candidates chosen for appointment cleared the examination from one centre.
“The examination was held at 32 centres, and about 77% of candidates who passed, wrote the examination from Chennai. We are looking into suspicion of fraud,” a TNPSC official said.
Fresh scam
A fresh scam has hit the TNPSC, with the CB-CID arresting a village administrative officer (VAO) for paying money and passing the examination held in 2016.
A source in the investigating agency told The Hindu on Thursday that evidence had surfaced, pointing to at least five VAOs who adopted fraudulent means to clear the exam.
The exam was held on February 14, 2016, to fill up 813 vacancies of VAOs in the Tamil Nadu Ministerial Service.
The objective-type examination was held covering General Studies, Basics in Village Administration, Aptitude & Mental Ability Test and General Tamil/ English, in centres across the State.
“We have arrested a suspect (a serving VAO), who admitted to have paid money to pass the exam. Special teams are on the lookout for four others,” a senior investigator said.
“There is a possibility that many other candidates (VAOs) would have passed the exam with the help of middlemen,” they added.
14-day remand
The prime suspect in the recruitment scam, S. Jayakumar of Mogappair, who remained elusive, surrendered in a city court on Thursday.
Jayakumar was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Sources in the CB-CID said that a petition would be filed to take custody of the suspect for interrogation.