Police recovers answer books from Kerala Univ student

The recent violence at the prestigious University college in Thiruvananthapuram by SFI activists has eventually triggered serious concerns over the credibility of the examinations conducted by the Kerala University (KU) and the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC), forcing the authorities of the two institutions to take swift damage control measures.

A raid by the police at the house of an SFI leader Sivaranjith R, who is accused of stabbing a college-mate last week, led to the recovery of blank answer-books of KU examination as well as the official seal of a Physical Education Director. Bundles of blank university answer-books were also recovered from the college union office.

Sivaranjith and couple of SFI leaders of the college had topped the recent recruitment test conducted by the KPSC to the post of the armed police constable. They secured high marks in the written test as well as high grace marks for participation in sports. There were even allegations that they got undue favours in changing examination centre.

As these developments raised serious questions over the credibility of the KU and KPSC, emergency meetings of the top officials of both the institutions were convened on Monday and a detailed probe was ordered.

KPSC chairman M K Sakeer told reporters that the internal vigilance wing of the commission launched an inquiry to find any irregularities in the recruitment. Appointments from the rank controversial list would be stalled until the inquiry report was received.

Kerala University vice-chancellor V P Mahadevan Pillai said that a high-level probe will be conducted to trace the sources of the answer-books found at the house of an SFI leader. He also said that it was the responsibility of the colleges to keep unused answer books securely. The seal of a physical education director recovered from the house of the SFI leader seems to be a fake one, he said.