Court dismisses bail applications of 2 TNPSC exam scam accused

M Muthukumar, an Armed Reserve Police personnel who allegedly acted as the middleman, and Anandan, who cleared the exam reportedly after paying Rs 13 lakh, had moved the bail applications. Vehemently opposing it, City Public Prosecutor Gowri Ashokan submitted that the case was at a crucial stage and granting bail to the accused would be a hurdle to the investigation by Organised Crime Unit, CB-CID.

Following this, Judge R Selvakumar dismissed the bailapplications.

Muthukumar from Tirunelveli was arrested in connection with TNPSC Group 2A scam in the first week of February. He reportedly collected Rs 40 lakhs from seven persons promising Group 2A jobs.

The prosecution alleged that Muthukumar entered into a criminal conspiracy with Jayakumar, a key accused in the scam. He also got jobs for his brother Suyambarajan and relative Manikandan as Village Administrative Officers in 2016. He also paid Rs 8 lakh to secure a job for his wife Mahalakshmi, who was a Group 2A topper in 2017 and has been working as an assistant in the Revenue department.

Investigations revealed that these transactions were done through Sithandi, a middleman who in turn paidJayakumar.

The second bail application was moved by M Anandan (32) of Kancheepuram, an assistant at Sub Register Office in Red Hills. Probe revealed that he topped the exam after paying Rs 13 lakh to Boopathy, an alleged a middleman, a serving police officer. Boopathy worked as the agent for Jayakumar.

When he wrote the exam in 2017-2018, Anandan had initially selected Kancheepuram as the centre. But later changed it to Rameswaram as instructed by the middleman, alleged the prosecution.

Meanwhile, CB-CID on Thursday secured three more persons, including two women, in connection with the scam. The two women are working at the registration office and DMS office, while the man is said to be an agent. The women were reportedly recruited after bribing the agent to get selected in the 2017 Group 2A exam, police sources said.

Besides the trio secured on Thursday, the investigation agency has arrested 42 people in connection with the three TNPSC exam scams they are probing – Group IV held in 2019, Group 2A held in 2017 and VAO examination conducted in 2016.