BHUBANESWAR: The CBI is likely to question chairman of Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) and DG Prisons Susanta Kumar Nath in connection with the sub-inspector (SI) recruitment scam.
In a letter to the Home department, assistant inspector general of CBI’s Vigilance Cell Alok Kumar said Nath was the chairman of OPRB, which was to conduct the examination of SI of Police and equivalent ranks on October 5 and 6 last year.
“The entire process is under investigation, including the role of examination conducting agencies, OPRB and others.After examination of officials of M/s ITI limited,Susanta Kumar Nath,IPS,may be required to be examined,” read the letter.
The response from the CBI came after additional secretary,Home, Trilochan Majhi requested the central agency to share details on the status of its inquiry into the SI recruitment scam.Majhi had urged the CBI to apprise the state government whether the role of Nath was under investigation,if he had been examined or was named in connection with the case.
OPRB had entrusted ITI Limited, a central PSU in Kolkata, with the charge of conducting the SI recruitment examination. ITI Limited had sublet the work to Silicon Tech Lab and key tasks were given to Panchsoft Technologies headed by Sankar Prusty,the mastermind of the scam. Both Prusty and Silicon promoter Suresh Nayak had earlier been apprehended by the Crime Branch of Odisha Police, which was previously probing the case.
With the Supreme Court halting the UPSC selection meeting and Odisha remaining in the dark over its next police chief, the CBI informing the state government that Nath may be questioned, assumes significance.
The Supreme Court had intervened last month after a PIL alleged that Odisha government tried to bypass the landmark Prakash Singh guidelines in the DGP’s selection process.The next date of hearing is on September 2.
