Kerala IPS officer caught copying in exam

In an embarrassment to Kerala Police, a top officer was on Monday asked to leave an examination hall after he was caught copying from printed material he had taken into the hall.

Thrissur Range Inspector General of Police (IG) T J Jose was sent out of the hall by the invigilator during Mahatma Gandhi University’s off-campus LLM (Masters in Law) examination on a ‘Law of Crimes’ paper. Jose has been appearing for an ongoing series of examinations at the St Paul’s College in Kalamasseri near Kochi.

The invigilator — after noticing that the IG was copying from pages taken out of a guide-book — informed the college manager and vice-principal V J Peter about the incident and the official was asked to leave the hall. The invigilator was not aware of Jose’s official credentials when the IG was caught cheating.

The vice-principal said the IG left the hall without handing over the material from the guide-book.  The officer denied reports that he was caught cheating and told reporters that he would also appear for the next examination scheduled on Tuesday.

He said he left the hall ahead of the deadline, after completing the examination. The examination was scheduled between 10 am and 1 pm.

In the wake of the incident, the Home Department asked Jose to go on leave.
Late in the evening, the college authorities sent a report on the incident to the university’s controller of examinations. “We have sent a report with details of the incident to the university through email,” vice-principal V J Peter told Deccan Herald.
The decision on barring Jose from appearing for the next examination will depend on the university’s action on the report.

Meanwhile, a television channel reported that attempts were also made to hush up the incident by marking the IG as an ‘absent’ candidate.

N Shanker Reddy, ADGP – North Zone, will conduct a preliminary investigation into the incident. MG University is also set to follow standard procedures and initiate a preliminary probe led by an official in the rank of Deputy Registrar.

“As per the report we received, the candidate left with his hall ticket and material used for the malpractice,” Babu Sebastian, vice-chancellor of the university, said in Kottayam.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said action would be initiated based on the ADGP’s report. “The incident has brought shame to the state,” the minister said.