E-Paper
Odisha SI exam leak case: Vendor swapped question papers at Kolkata press, CBI tells court
The case was initially investigated by the Odisha police, later transferred to the state Crime Branch CID, and eventually handed over to the CBI due to its interstate ramifications.
The question papers for the Odisha police sub-inspector recruitment examination were allegedly swapped at a Kolkata printing press by a managing director of a vendor firm without the knowledge of officials of the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has stated in its preliminary chargesheet submitted before a Bhubaneswar court.
The examination for the recruitment of over 900 sub-inspectors in the police and excise departments was scheduled to be held on October 5 and 6, but was cancelled on September 30 after 117 candidates travelling in three air-conditioned buses were intercepted and arrested near the Odisha–Andhra Pradesh border while allegedly heading to Vijayanagaram to obtain leaked copies of the question papers.
The case was initially investigated by the Odisha police, later transferred to the state Crime Branch CID, and eventually handed over to the CBI due to its interstate ramifications. The recruiting agency, OPRB, had outsourced the examination work to ITI Limited, a government-owned telecommunications company, which in turn contracted Silicon Techlab Private Limited, based in Bhubaneswar. Silicon Techlab further subcontracted the work to Panchsoft Technologies Private Limited, another Bhubaneswar-based IT firm.
In its preliminary chargesheet filed before the court of the chief judicial magistrate (CBI) in Bhubaneswar, the agency said Suresh Chandra Nayak, managing director of Silicon Techlab Private Ltd, manipulated the examination process by replacing question paper packet number 3 with packet number 5 at Saraswati Printing Press in Kolkata.
According to the CBI, Nayak had accompanied OPRB chairman Susanta Kumar Nath, a senior IPS officer, and another IPS officer, Avinash Kumar, to the printing press on September 9. While the officials believed that packet number 5, as finalised by the board, had been submitted for printing, Nayak later contacted Pinaki Dey, in-charge of the confidential section of the press, the same evening.
The chargesheet states that Nayak told Dey that packet number 3 had been submitted “mistakenly” instead of packet number 5 and instructed him not to open the packet, claiming it would be replaced with the correct one. The following day, Nayak allegedly placed the question papers from packet number 3 into another envelope labelled as packet number 5 and handed it over to Dey for printing.
The CBI alleged that Nayak had already taken copies of the question papers from packet number 3. After printing, he allegedly took delivery of the sealed boxes containing the question papers, which were marked subject-wise. The printed papers were later transported to the Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP) 6th Battalion in Cuttack, where they were stored before being distributed to various districts for the examination.
The agency further stated that an elaborate criminal conspiracy was hatched by Muna Mohanty, identified as the kingpin, along with associates including Sankar Prusty and agents Lokanath Sahoo, Biswajit Harichandan and Taffim Ahemad. The gang allegedly collected ₹25 lakh from each candidate in exchange for leaked question papers and arranged three buses through Sri Tulasi Travels to transport the candidates to Vijayanagaram.
The CBI has chargesheeted 122 people, including more than 100 candidates, under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, including Sections 319(2), 318(4), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 111, 61(2) and 3(5), along with Sections 11(1) and 12(1) of the Odisha Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
Following the failure of OPRB to conduct the examination, the Odisha government set up a new selection commission for uniformed service employees in November last year. The commission will now oversee recruitment for police and other uniformed services under the home, excise, forest and environment, commerce, and transport departments.
Meanwhile, state police authorities are facing difficulties in assigning officers for routine investigations due to a significant shortage of sub-inspectors. The state home department had promoted hundreds of sub-inspectors as inspectors last year in anticipation of fresh recruitment. However, with uncertainty surrounding the recruitment process amid the ongoing CBI probe, the government remains undecided on moving ahead.
Thousands of aspirants have demanded that the recruitment examination be conducted at the earliest, warning that many candidates may exceed the age limit if further delays occur. “The government must act proactively and put necessary mechanisms in place to ensure that the examination is conducted at the earliest in a fair and transparent manner,” an aspirant said.
