KALABURAGI: Kalaburagi and Yadgir police have arrested 21 people, including candidates who indulged in malpractice and those who helped them during the Karnataka Examination Authority entrance exam for first division assistants on Saturday, the police confirmed on Sunday.
Nine people were arrested in Yadgir district, which had four exam centres; seven in Afzalpur town of Kalaburagi district and three in the limits of University Police Station which had the University Exam Centre, and two persons from Ashok Nagar Police Station limits, where the Sharanabasaveshwara College Exam Centre was situated. Of the nine persons arrested in Yadgir, eight belong to Sonna village of Afzalpur taluk in Kalaburagi district), while one is from Vijayapura district.
RD Patil, who is one of the kingpins in the PSI entrance test scam too, has been named the prime accused in the FIR registered at the Afzalpur Police Station, accused No 3 in the FIR at the Ashok Nagar Police Station and his name figures in the FIR registered at the University and Yadgir police stations. Most of the candidates arrested are from Sonna village, from where Patil too hails.
The police have not arrested or interrogated Patil so far. In most of the FIRs, it is mentioned that the candidates used bluetooth devices, and the SIM cards and answers were provided by Patil and his followers. Patil, who was previously the block president of Afzalpur Congress Committee, contested the recently held Assembly elections from the Afzalpur constituency on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
Police sources said Patil was not physically present near any of the exam centres. That is the reason he has not been arrested or interrogated, they added. He was named in the FIRs based on the information given by the arrested candidates. “We have to collect more evidence before summoning him for questioning or arresting him,” they said.
Meanwhile, Ravishankar Malipatil, who is a leader of the association for candidates appearing for competitive exams, claimed that he met Kalaburagi district in-charge minister Priyank Kharge on October 13 and had warned him about likely large-scale malpractice during the FDA entrance exams on October 28 and 29. He had also submitted a memorandum to the government through Kharge. He felt that nearly 300 candidates across the state would have written the exam using blue-tooth devices.
On Sunday, the second day of the entrance exams, the police were on heightened alert. They restricted the movement of people near examination centres and prevented candidates wearing full-arm shirts, watches and mobiles from entering the exam centres. The candidates and their ears were checked with metal detectors for any bluetooth devices.