Thiruvananthapuram: The Crime Branch has invoked serious criminal charges, including offences carrying prison terms of up to 10 years, against former Kerala University Vice-Chancellor M K Ramachandra Nair and others in connection with alleged irregularities in the 2008 recruitment of university assistants.

The charges include criminal conspiracy, forgery, destruction of official records, breach of trust by public officials and destruction of evidence. Provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act are also being included.

The chargesheet is currently under scrutiny by ADGP H. Venkatesh. The investigation found that the recruitment process was manipulated to favour certain candidates, according to the Crime Branch.
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Answer sheets of 40,000 candidates destroyed

The investigation has concluded that answer sheets from an examination taken by around 40,000 candidates were allegedly destroyed.

The Crime Branch has also identified 38 candidates who secured places on the rank list through influence. Investigators examined cases where candidates scored poorly in the written examination but secured near-full marks in the interview.

The report includes a list showing that some of the selected candidates were close relatives of CPM leaders and leaders of affiliated organisations. Others were family members of senior university officials, according to the findings.
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Interview marks raised questions

The Crime Branch noted that the allocation of 20 marks for the interview and five marks for handwriting created scope for manipulation.

Investigators cited the case of Anu S. Nair as an example. He had performed strongly in the written examination but fell down the rank list after the interview. Nair later secured the first rank in a PSC Deputy Collector examination, the Crime Branch report noted.

Former university officials among accused

Those named as accused include former Vice-Chancellor M K Ramachandran Nair, former Pro-Vice-Chancellor V Jayaprakash, former Registrar K A Hashim and former syndicate members A A Rasheed, B S Rajeev, M P Russell and K A Andrew.

The investigation claims that the recruitment process was deliberately manipulated to ensure appointments of candidates favoured by those involved.