CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has rejected bail petitions of the 17 accused in the Odisha Police Sub-Inspector Recruitment Examination scam being investigated by the CBI.
The accused were arrested in December last year under various provisions of the BNS and the Odisha Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. Hearing the batch of bail pleas, Justice Gourishankar Satapathy observed that the allegations against the accused disclosed a crime against society and a socio-economic offence of huge magnitude. He noted that the accused were allegedly involved in leaking question papers in exchange for lakhs of rupees from candidates seeking government jobs.
“The Combined Police Service Examination 2024 was cancelled twice for the alleged action of the petitioners,” Justice Satapathy observed, adding that such acts corrode the morals of meritorious candidates and undermine public confidence in the recruitment process.
Justice Satapathy further said that allowing undeserving candidates to secure jobs through corrupt means would deprive deserving aspirants of fair opportunities. “No civilized society can ever accept the leaking of question papers for recruitment to government posts forcing the government to cancel the examination,” the judge remarked.
Although the charge sheet has already been filed and the accused have remained in custody for a considerable period, Justice Satapathy held that these grounds alone were insufficient for granting bail considering the seriousness of the allegations. The bail pleas of T Abhimanyu Dora, Priyadarsani Samal, Lokanath Sahoo, Srikanta Maharana, Biswajit Harichandan, Sagar Kumar Gouda, Tafim Ahemmad Khan, Suresh Chandra Nayak, Biranchi Kumar Nayak, Nimain Charan Sahoo, Arjun Nayak, Biswaranjan Behera, Epili Sitaram, Ram Babu Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Muna Mohanty and Arabinda Das were rejected.
The court also directed accused Muna Mohanty, presently on interim bail for medical treatment, to surrender within 21 days after completing his advised bed rest following surgery.
