TSPSC 2023 paper leak: Official, two candidates among 9 held over, says Hyderabad police

HYDERABAD: Nine persons were taken into custody on Monday here in connection with the 'leak' of a question paper of the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) exam, police said. Among those detained are an Assistant Section Officer in TSPSC and two candidates who had purchased the leaked paper and wrote the exam on March 5, they said.

Police investigating the suspected leak of a paper, which was scheduled on March 12 for the post of Town Planning Building Overseer, found that the accused were allegedly involved in the data breach, stealing and leaking of TSPSC's Assistant Engineer (AE) question paper for which the exam was already held on March 5.

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The TSPSC on Saturday had postponed the written examination scheduled to be held on March 12 for the post of Town Planning Building Overseer on account of suspected hacking and lodged a complaint at Begum Bazaar police station. During the course of the investigations, police found that the Assistant Section Officer in TSPSC colluded with a network administrator, who is working on an outsourcing basis in the office of TSPSC and had leaked the TSPSC's Assistant Engineer (AE) question paper.

The duo hacked the password from the computer of the confidential section located in the office of TSPSC, stole the data and transferred it into a pen drive. They took a printout of the AE (Civil) examination paper and handed it over to other accused and got Rs 10 lakh, police said.

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The other accused sold the leaked paper to two candidates who were appearing for the AE (Civil) Exam and received Rs 13.5 lakh from them and provided the leaked question paper, police said. The accused confined the two candidates at their residence and escorted them to the examination centre on March 5, police said.

Asked about the suspected leak of paper for the post of Town Planning Building Overseer, a senior police official said investigations were still on in that regard as a system analysis was underway and a forensic report was also awaited.