ED searches IPS officer Sitarama Anjaneyulu, others in APPSC Group-I evaluation case

Former APPSC Secretary P. Sitarama Anjaneyulu, an IPS officer who retired while under suspension, being escorted by the police in April 2025, in a separate case. File

Officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reportedly conducted raids at different locations, including the houses of P. Sitarama Anjaneyulu, an IPS officer who attained superannuation while under suspension and was Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) Secretary at the time of the recruitment, and P. Madhusudhan Rao, owner of CamSign Media Private Limited, on Wednesday (November 4, 2026).

The ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, into the allegations of irregularities in the APPSC Group-I recruitment, taken up during the previous government.

The ED’s Hyderabad zonal office searched seven premises in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Guntur district. The case relates to irregularities in the manual evaluation of the answer scripts of the Group-I Main Examination, for which ₹1,14,32,312 is alleged to have been paid to a private party, news agency ANI reported, citing officials.

Investigation officers raided the offices of CamSign Media, which had evaluated the answer sheets at Haailand Resorts, allegedly in violation of the rules.

Raids were also carried out at Alwal, Neredmet and other areas in Hyderabad.

The ED teams also conducted searches at Haailand at Pedakakani in Guntur district, where the answer scripts were kept and evaluated. Investigation officers are likely to visit the APPSC office in Vijayawada, sources said.

The premises searched also include those of TruGrader Services, a division of Stone Media Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd., which had carried out the earlier digital evaluation for the APPSC; its managing director Akella Peri Srinivasa Rao; and Mahamkali Raghuram, who was engaged in the evaluation work, according to ANI.

The Andhra Pradesh government issued a notification for filling up the Group-I posts through the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) in 2019, and the recruitment was taken up in 2020.

It was alleged that large-scale irregularities had occurred in the recruitment and that some APPSC officials had violated the APPSC rules.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the irregularities found lapses such as the shifting of answer scripts from the APPSC office to a private resort and evaluation of answer sheets by ineligible persons, among other violations.

The ED registered a case a few days ago and took up the investigation. The raids are under way at the houses and offices of the accused.