The Facebook page of the Karims La Excellence Academy that trains aspirants for the Civil Services exam advertises a session thus: “Complete coverage of polity in 22 hours, with detailed notes, explanations and memory tricks.” If the version put out by the Chennai and Hyderabad police is anything to go by, Safeer Karim IPS, who ran the coaching institute, did not choose to use any of the memory tricks and opted to be Munnabhai IPS instead.

Karim, a native of Alwaye in Kerala, cracked the IPS in 2015, standing 112nd in the UPSC exam and was allotted to the Tamil Nadu cadre. Undergoing his probation in Tirunelveli district as Assistant Superintendent of Police, he aspired to opt for the IAS this year. He appeared for the UPSC (Mains) exam at the Egmore centre in Chennai on Monday where he was caught red-handed with a micro camera attached to his chest and connected to Google Drive.

The high-end modus operandi to cheat was a twin city operation. The camera was meant to scan the paper and send it through Google Drive to his wife, Joicy Joyce, who was in Hyderabad. She was assisted by Dr P Rambabu, the director of La Excellence IAS Study Circle in Hyderabad and also a partner in Karim’s institutes in Kerala. The answers would be dictated to Karim through Bluetooth.

The operation to nab Karim was mounted by the Intelligence Bureau that had suspected him of wrongdoing during a previous paper last week. So the 27-year-old IPS officer was kept under surveillance. On Monday, when candidates were frisked before entering the hall, Safeer handed over his wallet and cellphone to the authorities but concealed another phone and wireless earpieces in his socks besides the camera inside his shirt.

What would make an academically brilliant person who has already cracked the exam once resort to this sort of malpractice? Incidentally, Karim had scored high marks in the Ethics paper in his last attempt. The Chennai and Hyderabad police are engaged in grilling Rambabu and Joicy even as the institute in Hyderabad has come under the scanner.

In Kerala, the news has been met with shock. One of his former employees, Majeed * said he was shocked when he heard what had happened. He worked at the Thiruvananthapuram institute till it shut shop about six months ago.

“Karim is a normal sort of person. I was surprised he wanted to try for the IAS because I know he was always fascinated by the uniform,” says Majeed. “After his high rank in 2015, he got a lot of fame in Kerala.”

In fact, Karim had revealed in a television programme how actor Suresh Gopi (now a nominated Rajya Sabha MP), who played a policeman in several superhit Malayalam movies, was an inspiration. Karim’s Facebook page has a photograph of Gopi with the officer’s daughter.

While the Kochi centre is still operational and run by his sister, having just 12 students reportedly forced Karim to close the Thiruvananthapuram centre. Each student shelled out Rs 50000 for the course, says Majeed.

On Monday evening, after the news broke, Karim’s father called Majeed from Kochi, breaking down over the phone. “I do not know what happened,” he reportedly said.

It is surprising how a person, who was in service, was also allowed to run a business on the side. Though on paper, Karim’s family ran the educational institute, the IPS officer did not hide his connection with the initiative, advertising himself as the founder of the institute and taking classes for both sociology and aptitude. His institute that incidentally started in 2013, two years before Karim himself cracked the UPSC exam, claims 53 successful results in the last four years.

Karim, who is in custody, will in all likelihood be dismissed from the IPS and also be debarred from appearing for any UPSC exam in the future. He has been booked under Section 420 (cheating) and 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy and also under the IT Act 2003.

What will hurt is that Safeer and Joicy allegedly indulged in this act of cheating just a day after their daughter Zia turned one on October 29. On his Facebook page are several video birthday messages for their daughter. The parents have committed a far more heinous crime against the little one.

(* Name has been changed on request)