Thiruvananthapuram: A court here has returned the chargesheet prepared by the Crime Branch against five accused, including the Student Federation of India (SFI) activists and a Civil Police Officer, in the 2019 Public Service Commission (PSC) question paper leak case.
The Judicial Magistrate Court pointed out certain technical issues in the documents submitted while issuing the direction. Earlier too, the court had directed the agency to ensure more clarity with regard to the documents.
The Crime Branch sources said the same will be carried out and they will submit a new chargesheet next week. The court will verify the documents again before admitting the same in evidence.
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 Kallada. The invigilator, who was on duty during the examination, has been excluded from the list of the accused.
The charges against the accused include those under sections of the relevant law pertaining to the forging of documents using equipment, including electronic devices, breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy. Offenses under the cyber laws have also been included as the fraud was perpetrated using smartwatches and earphones.
The case relates to the leakage of question paper during the examination held for selection to the posts of the Civil Police Officer in 2019. The incident 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 investigation team arrived at the conclusion that the accused candidates transmitted the question paper using smartwatches to an outside party and the answers were copied after receiving them using the gadgets.
