Chennai: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) has filed cases against 196 candidates suspected to be involved in the recruitment scam of polytechnic lecturers following the complaint from Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB). In an expose on December 13, the Deccan Chronicle has highlighted the major scam unearthed by Teachers Recruitment Board in which around 200 candidates found to be qualified in a written test with fake marks polytechnic lecturers recruitment. The report has sent shock waves among the academics, candidates and the general public. It was found out that of 2000 candidates who were called for the certificate verification, around 200 candidates were qualified with fake marks. Their marks have been inflated around 50 to 100 marks to make them qualify for the next round.
“The candidates who got inflated marks were given enough opportunities to come out. But, no one has come out and pleaded their innocence. It has confirmed their involvement in the scam,” sources said. When asked about the actions initiated against TRB officials involved in the scam, the sources said, “We have given the details of the staff members and officials involved the recruitment to the police. The list of personnel from the private agency who involved in the scanning of answer sheets also was handed over to them.”
There is a suspicion that one or more official and staff members from TRB might have involved in the recruitment racket. “But we cannot take action based on the suspicion alone. The police can conduct the inquiry with any official from TRB who involved in the recruitment of polytechnic lecturers. If we get any evidence against the officials and staff members then the action will be initiated,” officials added.
The police investigation may reveal whether any malpractices happened in the previous recruitments as well. Each candidate allegedly has paid Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs to the touts. The scam came to light when TRB verified the marks of the candidates selected for certificate verification with the original answer scripts following the complaints.
After uncovering the scam, the board has withdrawn the results released on November 7 and published new results with OMR answer scripts on December 11. It has lowered the inflated marks to around 200 candidates in the new results. The written exam for 1,058 polytechnic lecturer posts was held on September 16 and totally 1.33 lakh candidates appeared for the exam.
DC Impact
TRB has conducted a written test for 1,058 lecturer posts in Government Polytechnic Colleges on September 16. Around 1.33 lakh students appeared for the written test. Among 2000 candidates who were called for certificate verification around 200 candidates had fake marks. Their original marks were inflated from 50 to 100 marks to make them eligible for certificate verification. Each candidate allegedly paid Rs 25 to Rs 30 lakhs to the touts and around Rs 50 crore was collected from these candidates.
