SFI members R Sivaranjith and AN Naseem, accused in the stabbing case at the Thiruvananthapuram University College, have confessed to have engaged in malpractices during the Public Service Commission (PSC) examinations for the recruitment of constables for the Kerala Armed Police. This was confirmed to TNM by the Crime Branch of the Kerala police.
The duo was on August 6 barred for life from taking the PSC examinations after an Internal Vigilance Committee discovered major irregularities and malpractices in the police constable examinations of the Kerala PSC. Sivaranjith had secured the first rank and Naseem had secured 27th rank in the examinations. The cyber police had found that they received text messages from a particular number during the time of the examination.
A Crime Branch team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), K Harikrishnan confronted them with solid evidence regarding the case and asked them to answer the questions that were asked during the examinations, which the duo failed to answer. The duo then confessed to the crime.
“We asked them the same questions that were asked during the PSC examinations and they couldn’t answer most of the questions,” DySP Harikrishnan told TNM. The DySP added that they are still in the process of further investigation and the action that can be taken against them will be decided later. Under Section 26 of the Indian Evidences Act, confessions made by accused persons while in police custody are not admissible in court, unless recorded in the presence of a Magistrate.
Questions were raised regarding the irregularities in the PSC examinations after bundles of Kerala University answer sheets were seized by the police from the house of Sivaranjith, who is the main accused in the stabbing of an undergraduate student at the University College. The seizure of answer sheets was followed by the findings that the accused in the case were also rank holders in the PSC examinations which had raised eyebrows.