The Madras High Court has refused to grant bail to one of the accused in the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) recruitment scam pertaining to malpractices in the examinations conducted for Group IIA and Group IV services in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan dismissed a petition by G. Bhaskar of Kolathur after Additional Public Prosecutor M. Mohamed Riyaz said that the petitioner had acted as a mediator and collected ₹9 lakh for making a candidate clear Group-IIA examination and ₹7 lakh for Group-IV exam.
Opposing the bail plea through video-conferencing, the APP also told the court that the investigation in the case was still pending and hence it would not be advisable to release the petitioner on bail as there was every chance of him tampering with the evidence and threatening witnesses.
“It is seen that the petitioner is one of the accused in the scam of Group IV and Group II-A examinations, conducted by TNPSC, by fabricating the documents and forging the signature of government officials and issued OMR sheets,” the judge said.
“Thereby, the accused had committed serious offence against the society and as such, this court had dismissed the bail petitions of the co-accused on various occasions. Therefore, this court is not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner too,” the judge observed.
However, the petitioner’s counsel had contended that his client was serving as a manager in the loan department of a private bank in Kilpauk and he had done nothing beyond introducing one of his customers, a politically well-connected person, to the son of his cousin.
“Except the introduction, the petitioner did not commit any offence as alleged by the prosecution,” he claimed and sought bail since he was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on February 13.
