CID seeks action in KPSC exam racket

Violation of selection process rules found

Nearly a decade after the allegations were made, the CID has found  violation of rules in the selection process of candidates for the Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) in 1998. The investigating agency has indicted Asha Parveen, D R Pushpa, Y B Archana and Salma Firdous, all government servants selected during this time, for furnishing bogus certificates.

In its report, the CID said, “Based on facts revealed during the course of inquiry, it is proposed to initiate criminal proceedings against these candidates, since penal provision of forgery and fabrication of documents and use of false documents are genuine in these cases.”

The CID, which has found answers to 19 incidents, also pointed out that some of the candidates of a particular category received a favourable treatment.

“Some of the officials and non-officials in the KPSC had prejudices and inclination towards certain categories during various stages of the selection process, especially during the personality test,” it said.

Citing some incidents like submission of bogus certificate (2B) by Asha Parveen,  the CID said though she was selected under 2B category,  later on Tasildhar Bangalore North, Shivaswamy stated that no certificate was issued to Asha Parveen on March 9, 1998. But later  it was clarified that there is an entry in the concerned register with same office number on June 26, 1998.

The CID says, “It shows the candidate did not possess 2B certificate as per the requirement of notification. The KPSC should not have accepted this certificate at the time of the personality test.” In the cases of D R Pushpa and Y B Archana, the  certificate number and dates reveal that they were issued in some others’ names. Another allegation was that  candidate Allah Baksh was not selected for failing to produce 2B certificate.

The CID  said that during the inquiry, Baksh stated that he was threatened by some strangers on the KPSC premises not to attend the test.  Despite this when he managed to attend the test,  the then chairman H N Krishna told him that he would not be selected as he was already a class one officer. His signature on attendance sheet was taken forcibly.

He told the CID that nothing was written on the sheet when he signed and the insertion of endorsement was not his handwriting and has been done without his knowledge.
According to the CID,  there was an illegal nexus between individual candidates and the KPSC authorities.

It also suggested to refer all the cases back to the CID for further investigation after registration of regular criminal cases against the accused.

However, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has sought more time from the court stating that it is not possible to collect evidence, both oral and documentary, and ensure presence of the accused as well as witnesses within the stipulated time allotted by the court.

The matter has been adjourned.
The case pertains to a petition filed by B Raghu, Khaleel Ahmed, Suresh Kumar and 60 others, all candidates who were victims of the irregularities between 1999 and 2004.
The petitioners had sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case.

Hearing the petition, the division bench headed by Karnakata High Court Chief Justice J S Khehar had ordered a CID probe on December 16, 2010.