Govt authorises CBI to take over Odisha police recruitment paper leak case

The ministry said it has allowed CBI to investigate and supervise the case originally registered at the state’s CID-CB Police Station, Cuttack on September 30

More than two weeks after the Odisha government agreed to hand over the police sub inspector recruitment scam case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Personnel and Training on Tuesday authorised the central agency to take over the case from the state CID .

CID officials said CBI would now lodge a FIR and start investigation.

In a notification, the ministry said it has allowed CBI to investigate and supervise the case originally registered at the state’s CID-CB Police Station, Cuttack on September 30.

CID officials said CBI would now lodge a FIR and start investigation.

On September 30, the Berhampur police said it busted a question paper leak racket after its officials stopped three air-conditioned buses carrying 117 people near the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. Since then, 121 people including 114 candidates have been arrested in this connection.

The state police said Muna Mohanty and Shaknar Prusty, the two alleged masterminds of the case, were also arrested.

The SI examination was scheduled to be held in the first week of October for the recruitment of 933 police sub-inspectors by the Odisha Police Recruitment Board. It was subsequently cancelled. Police said the Odisha Police Recruitment Board, which is mandated to conduct the exam, had outsourced the work to ITI Limited.

Police said ITI Ltd, a government-owned firm, contracted the conduct of the exam to Silicon Techlab Private Limited in Bhubaneswar, which further subcontracted to Panchsoft Technologies Private Limited, a Bhubaneswar-based IT company.

According to the state police, Panchsoft Technologies led by Shankar Prusty worked along with the Muna Mohanty to leak the question papers. Mohanty’s agents collected original certificates and blank cheques from aspirants in exchange for the leaked question papers.

The question papers were alleged to have been priced at ₹20-25 lakh.