SPF cops cheat in exam

Hyderabad: Several officials of the Special Protection Force  — the agency that guards key installations including the State Legislative Assembly —have been caught on the wrong side of the law.

Strong disciplinary action was sought against SPF commandant D.N.A. Basha and three assistant commandants of the AP Special Police for complacency leading to malpractices in promotion examinations.

SPF director-general Tejdeep Kaur Menon has written to the government seeking stringent action against top SPF officials after suspending 12 constables who allegedly replaced answer-sheets after the exam.

An internal enquiry found that SPF officials, who don’t know how to write in English, had submitted answer-sheets with well-written answers.

Constables to SI rank officers were involved in exam malpractices, allegedly in connivance with top officials. The irregularities were found during the evaluation of answer-sheets.

The examiners found the same handwriting in several answer-sheets. They identified 12 such cases and summoned all the ‘suspicious’ examinees and asked them to take the exam again.

However, none of them could write the exam and their handwritings did not match. SPF commandant of Zone-3 D.N.A. Basha was the supervisory officer who was the chief custodian of the answer-sheets after they were sealed at the examination centre.

It is suspected that the answer-sheets were replaced after the exam. Meanwhile, denying the allegations and pleading ignorance, Basha said, “Nothing happened under my supervision. I know nothing regarding this.”

AP Special Police DG Gautham Sawang said, “From the SPF DG, I have received oral information about the incident and involvement of two of our assistant commandants. We will take action against them as soon as we receive a written report. The two officers were sent to SPF on request for invigilation,”

Another AP Special Police commandant Ravinchandar, who is on deputation with the SPF, is also under the scanner.