Thiruvananthapuram: A stabbing incident at the University College in the Kerala capital last week has inadvertently blown the lid off a major scam going on in the state, with manipulations suspected in university and public service commission (PSC) examinations.

It was revealed that three students affiliated with the Students Federation of India, who are key accused in the stabbing of undergraduate student Akhil Chandran, got top ranks in the statewide examination for recruitment of police constables. University answer sheets were also found at the residence of one of them, causing the state governor P. Sathasivam to ask for a report from the Kerala University.

SFI is the student wing of the ruling Communist Party of India Marxist.

As state governor, Sathasivam is also the chancellor of the university. The report has been sought from the vice chancellor of the university.

A number of petitions were sent to the governor to look into the matter after reports that answer sheets and official seals of Kerala University were found at the residence of the first accused, R. Sivarenjith.

Governor Sathasivam tweeted: “Sought an urgent report from Vice Chancellor, University of Kerala on the reported seizure of bundles of university answer sheets & seal of Dir, Physical Education from the house of an accused in the murder attempt case in #UniversityCollege, Thiruvananthapuram.”

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the examination fraud was the doing of “a caucus consisting of SFI leaders and some teachers in the University College”.

PSC chairman M.K. Zakir has said that the commission would withhold the appointments of the accused in the state police force in the context of the stabbing incident and the allegations of examination fraud.

The first accused, Sivarenjith topped the statewide examination for recruitment to the armed police battalion, while two other accused stood second and 28th in the same examination. All three were awaiting recruitment into the police force when investigations into the stabbing incident revealed details about suspected fraud in the examination.