APPSC Main Exam case: Incriminating documents seized during ED searches
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized incriminating documents, digital devices and other records during the search operations at seven premises in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the case relating to the evaluation of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) Group-I Main Examination evaluation scam, ED officials said on Thursday.
The ED's Hyderabad Zonal Office on Wednesday conducted search operations under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The central probe agency said in statement on Thursday that during the search operations incriminating documents, digital devices and other records relating to the scam were found and seized.
The searches were conducted at the premises of retired IPS officer P. Seetharamanjaneyulu, the then APPSC Secretary; Camsign Media Pvt. Ltd., the private party to which the work of manual evaluation was entrusted, and its Managing Director P. Madhusudhana Rao; Aavasa Resort Haailand in Chinakakani village of Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district, being the premises at which the answer scripts were kept and the evaluation exercise was carried out.
The searches were also conducted at the premises of TruGrader Services, a division of Stone Media Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd., which had conducted the earlier digital evaluation for APPSC, its Managing Director Akella Peri Srinivasa Rao, and Mahamkali Raghuram, who was engaged in connection with the evaluation work.
The ED said it recorded the statements of the accused persons, including Seetharamanjaneyulu. Property documents recovered during the search are under verification, it added. The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Andhra Pradesh Police under Sections 320 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, which are scheduled offences under the PMLA.
The FIR alleges irregularities in the manual evaluation of the answer scripts of the APPSC Group-I Main Examination, in the course of which an amount of Rs 1,14,32,312 is alleged to have been paid to a private party. It is alleged that following the orders of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in 2021, setting aside the digital evaluation of the answer scripts and directing manual evaluation, the work of manual evaluation was entrusted to Camsign Media Pvt. Ltd. from November 27, 2021 to February 19, 2022, when there was no regular chairman of APPSC.
The answer scripts were thereafter moved out of official premises to Haailand Resorts at Chinakakani village in Guntur district, and kept there for 84 days between December 2021 and February 2022. It is alleged that no genuine manual evaluation of the answer scripts was in fact carried out, and that the marks of the earlier digital evaluation were instead mapped as manual evaluation marks. On January 1, 2022, the exercise was publicly stated to be in its final stages, and an amount of Rs 1,14,32,312 was released to private party through a cheque.
The said exercise was thereafter discarded in its entirety. The answer scripts were retrieved and re-evaluated at official premises under CCTV surveillance after February 19, 2022, and the final results and the selection list were declared on the basis of that subsequent evaluation. The consideration of Rs 1,14,32,312 thus stands paid for a service alleged not to have been rendered, and is prima facie proceeds of crime within the meaning of Section 2 (1) (u) of the PMLA, the ED added.
The ED's Hyderabad Zonal Office on Wednesday conducted search operations under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The central probe agency said in statement on Thursday that during the search operations incriminating documents, digital devices and other records relating to the scam were found and seized.
The searches were conducted at the premises of retired IPS officer P. Seetharamanjaneyulu, the then APPSC Secretary; Camsign Media Pvt. Ltd., the private party to which the work of manual evaluation was entrusted, and its Managing Director P. Madhusudhana Rao; Aavasa Resort Haailand in Chinakakani village of Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district, being the premises at which the answer scripts were kept and the evaluation exercise was carried out.
The searches were also conducted at the premises of TruGrader Services, a division of Stone Media Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd., which had conducted the earlier digital evaluation for APPSC, its Managing Director Akella Peri Srinivasa Rao, and Mahamkali Raghuram, who was engaged in connection with the evaluation work.
The ED said it recorded the statements of the accused persons, including Seetharamanjaneyulu. Property documents recovered during the search are under verification, it added. The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Andhra Pradesh Police under Sections 320 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, which are scheduled offences under the PMLA.
The FIR alleges irregularities in the manual evaluation of the answer scripts of the APPSC Group-I Main Examination, in the course of which an amount of Rs 1,14,32,312 is alleged to have been paid to a private party. It is alleged that following the orders of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in 2021, setting aside the digital evaluation of the answer scripts and directing manual evaluation, the work of manual evaluation was entrusted to Camsign Media Pvt. Ltd. from November 27, 2021 to February 19, 2022, when there was no regular chairman of APPSC.
The answer scripts were thereafter moved out of official premises to Haailand Resorts at Chinakakani village in Guntur district, and kept there for 84 days between December 2021 and February 2022. It is alleged that no genuine manual evaluation of the answer scripts was in fact carried out, and that the marks of the earlier digital evaluation were instead mapped as manual evaluation marks. On January 1, 2022, the exercise was publicly stated to be in its final stages, and an amount of Rs 1,14,32,312 was released to private party through a cheque.
The said exercise was thereafter discarded in its entirety. The answer scripts were retrieved and re-evaluated at official premises under CCTV surveillance after February 19, 2022, and the final results and the selection list were declared on the basis of that subsequent evaluation. The consideration of Rs 1,14,32,312 thus stands paid for a service alleged not to have been rendered, and is prima facie proceeds of crime within the meaning of Section 2 (1) (u) of the PMLA, the ED added.
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Note: The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the ap7am team.