ED quizzes 2 key TSPSC leak accused in jail on court nod

HYDERABAD: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned two key accused in the TSPSC question paper leak case and recorded their statement in prison after a court nod. Kingpin P Praveen Kumar, who was assistant section officer in TSPSC, and network administrator Atla Rajashekar Reddy were questioned on their role in the paper leak.
The duo allegedly stole data from the computer in the confidential section, took a printout of the assistant engineer (civil) and general studies papers and passed it on to beneficiaries for 5lakh kickback from each. ED quizzed the accused on how they breached the confidential room and cracked the credential code. Investigators also sought details of beneficiaries.

ED had booked a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on an FIR registered by the special investigation team.
The agency had earlier questioned Shankara Lakshmi, TSPSC confidential section officer who too accessed password credentials along with senior official Satyanarayana. A parallel probe is being led by the SIT under IPC sections and Prevention of Examinations Malpractices Act.
ED sources said, Kumar stole the login and password from the confidential section officer. Network administrator Rajasekhar misled the section officer, Shankara Lakshmi, in the garb of repairing her computer and assigned her a static IP address, instead of a dynamic one, said sources. ED is looking into the contradicting versions.
"Using the static IP address and login details provided by Praveen, Rajasekhar accessed the computer of the section's in-charge and copied 25 questions of the assistant engineer (civil) exam in a pen drive," an investigating officer said. There's another version to the scam - Shankara Lakshmi scribbled the password details in her dairy and later accessed the question paper. ED, however, is digging deep into the case and wants to verify the role of Shankara Lakshmi and others.
TSPSC officials had filed a complaint with Begum Bazar police who registered a case on March 11. Accused Praveen Kumar deliberately filled a wrong bubble in the OMR answer sheet of Group-1 prelims to force a disqualification and camouflage his role in the scam. He had a qualifying score of 103 of 150 in the October 2022 prelims exams but didn't make the cut due to the smudged OMR sheet.