PSI recruitment scam: CID files 1,900-page chargesheet

KALABURAGI: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), probing the police sub-inspector common entrance test scam, submitted a 1,900-page chargesheet against 34 accused, including senior police officers, kingpins and candidates, to the third additional JMFC court here on Tuesday.

Public Prosecutor Shivasharanappa Hotpet, who submitted the chargesheet before Judge Srinivas KR, said, “Charges have been filed against Veeresh, Chetan Nandgaon, Praveenkumar, Arunkumar Halsultanpur  (all candidates), Savitri, Suma, Siddamma, Archana Shivakumar and Sunanda alias Sunita (all teachers), Rajesh Hagaragi (president of Jnana Jyoti School), Hayyali Desai, Rudregowda and Sharanabasappa Boragi (police constables), Mahantesh Patil (kingpin), Rudra Gowda Patil (Congress leader), Mallikarjun Melakundi, NV Sunil Kumar and Honnamma alias Jyoti Patil (mediators), Divya Hagaragi (general secretary of Jnana Jyothi School), Suresh Kategaon (who provided shelter to Divya Hagaragi while she was absconding), Kalidas, Saddam Hussain and Manjunath Melakundi (assistant engineer at Irrigation Department), Sridhar, Kashinath (headmaster of Jnana Jyothi School), Anand, Mallikarjun and Vaijinath (both DySP rank officers), Shantibai and her husband Basya Naik, Mohammad Ayub, Aslam Mujawar and Vasantraj.

The candidates include those who had appeared for the PSI CET at Jnana Jyoti exam centre here. CID DySP Prakash Rathod, who is the investigating officer, prepared the chargesheet.The CID had filed an FIR against candidate Veeresh at Chowk Police Station on April 9 naming him as the prime accused. All the 34 accused have been charged with exam malpractices, including copying using bluetooth devices.Of the 34 accused, 33 are still in judicial custody, while Suresh Kategaon was granted bail by the Kalaburagi bench of the Karnataka High Court recently.

How the probe began?
After the CID took over the probe, Veeresh, son of a head constable attached to Sedam Police Station in Kalaburagi district who had appeared for the PSI CET on October 3 at Jnana Jyoti exam centre, was the first to be arrested. He had answered only 21 multiple-choice questions, but secured 100 marks. He was taken to Bengaluru for further investigation. Based on his confession, CID sleuths filed a case at the Chowk Police Station on April 11.  Later, six more were arrested -- three supervisors Suma, Siddamma and Savitri working at Jnana Jyoti, and candidates Arun Patil of Hal Sultanpur village of Kalaburagi taluk, Chetan Nandgaon of Aland taluk and Praveenkumar K of Raichur district.School Principal Kashinath, also an accused, had turned off the CCTV cameras for half-an-hour to facilitate malpractice.

CET for PSI
The notification to fill up 545 PSI posts, including 107 positions in the Kalyana-Karnataka region, was issued on January 23, 2021. The last date for submission of applications was February 22, 2021. It was further extended to May 20. In all, 54,104 candidates applied and wrote CET at 94 exam centres across the state on October 3. After complaints of irregularities, the state government announced the CID probe.