The Odisha government on Wednesday decided to hand over the probe into the much-talked-about police sub-inspector recruitment scam to the CBI.
The decision was taken by chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, as the case has generated significant political heat in the state. The case was being investigated by the state crime branch.
The decision comes amid the high-octane campaign for the Nuapada bypoll. The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said the gang that ran the racket had a network that spread beyond Odisha to Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
"It is suspected that an organised gang is involved in the crime. To completely root out the corruption involved in it and to arrest those involved in the scam, the chief minister has decided to hand over the probe to the CBI," said the CMO. The CMO said that the state government is mulling setting up a permanent commission for recruitment in police and other uniformed services.
The multi-crore job scam surfaced when police detained three buses heading towards Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh and detained 114 candidates, who were to take the examinations on October 5 and October 6. The bus was heading for Andhra Pradesh on September 29.
The probe found that these people were to be given the question papers to practise ahead of the examination. After the practice session, they were to be brought to the examination centre and appear for the examination. Each candidate had paid ₹20 lakh to ₹25 lakh for it.
A total of 114 candidates and three middlemen were arrested. Later, the police arrested three key members of the gang, and the number of arrests in the scam climbed to 123. However, the main accused, Sankar Prusty, is absconding.
Earlier, Vinaytosh Mishra, the director-general of police, crime branch, had said that the crime syndicate operates under Prusty, director, Panchsoft Technologies Pvt Ltd, at Patia in Bhubaneswar, to subvert the examination process by adopting unfair means with a view to breaking down the government machinery and to create disbelief in the minds of people. Being the leader of the syndicate, he operated through his agents and middlemen to keep himself away from public view.
The Opposition alleged that Prusty could not have run the racket without the involvement of influential people and officers. The Odisha Police Recruitment Board and Odisha Police are under severe criticism for the lapses. The bigger question now remains how private agencies got involved in the examination process. The racket exposed loopholes in the OPRB examination and exposed how crores of rupees were involved in the scam.
