Thiruvananthapuram: The Crime Branch prepared a chargesheet against six accused, including Student Federation of India (SFI) activists and a civil police officer, in the Public Service Commission (PSC) question paper leak case, which took place during the examination conducted for selection to the posts of civil police officer in 2019. The chargesheet has been prepared by invoking Sections of the law under which imprisonment of up to seven years can be imposed.
The case has filed under Sections of the law pertaining to forging of documents using equipment, including electronic devices, breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy. Offences under the cyber laws have also been included as the fraud was perpetrated using smart watches and ear phones.
The chargesheet, which has been approved by the prosecution, will be submitted in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate next week. The invigilator, who was on duty during the examination, has been excluded from the list of the accused.
The accused are SFI leaders of the University College, R Sivaranjith, A N Naseem, P P Pranav, civil police officer Gokul who sent messages over the phone during the test, and Safeer, a native of Kallara.
The leak of the question paper came to light after Sivaranjith, who was the topper in the rank list for the civil police officer posts, was involved in a stabbing incident at the University College on July 12, 2019. The accused persons were the top rank holders on the list that came into effect on July 1, 2019. The investigating team has found that the question paper was transmitted using smart watches and the answers were written after receiving them from outside. After the fraud was detected, the rank list was frozen for five months. The validity of the rank list expired on June 30, 2020.
Over 100 witnesses have been included in the chargesheet. The investigating team has also collected evidence including electronic devices, results of forensic tests, and cyber forensic reports.
