explained | Karnataka’s PSI recruitment scam and rot on top

the story So Far: Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday Arrested Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Amrit Paul Police Sub Inspector (PSI) Recruitment scam case. He was heading the Karnataka Police Recruitment Cell when the scam came to light and it was found that the OMR sheets in the office were allegedly tampered with. Since April, CID officials have so far arrested over 60 people, including the topper of the PSI exam, who were allegedly linked to middlemen and officials for filling up after submitting the OMR sheets.

Time

January 1, 2021: Gazette notification published for the appointment of 545 Civil PSIs.

3 October 2021: The written test is conducted. Over 54,000 candidates appeared for the exam at 92 centers in the state.

January 19, 2022: A provisional list of selected candidates is published. 178 candidates have been selected from Bengaluru Urban Centers and 93 from Kalaburagi.

How was the scam exposed?

First disturbance noticed in Kalaburagi, In March 2022, Sridhar Pawar, a PSI aspirant who failed to clear the exam, collected a carbon copy of the OMR answer sheet of another candidate, Veeresh Chandrasekhar, who was seventh among 67 candidates selected in the provisional list for the Kalyan Karnataka region. was in place. , He found that he had given 121 marks out of 150 despite attempting only 21 questions (out of 100), as per Carbon Copy.

While the local police first investigated the case, the government ordered a CID inquiry on April 7, 2022. On 9 April, based on a complaint lodged by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the CID at Chowk police station in Kalaburgi, the police registered a case. Charged against Veeresh under forgery, forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

more skeletons fall out of the closet

The CID later arrested five other candidates and three invigilators, who had allegedly filled OMR answer sheets for some students after the examination. Further scrutiny of the provisional select list revealed that all the six arrested candidates had written the exam at the same center – Gyan Jyoti English School in Kalaburgi.

Divya Hagaragi, former president of the women’s wing of the BJP’s Kalaburgi unit, and her husband Rajesh Hagaragi – who ran the school – absconded On 10 April, he was arrested by CID officials after a further 18 days of search. Three teachers and the headmaster of the school have also been arrested.

scam was found Local level mastermind in Kalaburagi By Congress leaders Rudragowda Patil and his brother Mahantesh. The Patil brothers and Ms. Hagaragi were made the main accused in the alleged misconduct in the recruitment scam.

Found two ways of misconduct

The format of the exam consists of two papers.

Paper – I: Comprehension and Essay Type – 50 Marks

Paper II: Multiple Choice Questions – 150 marks (100 questions for 1.5 marks each) to be filled in the OMR sheet

To avoid subjectivity in evaluation and corruption, most of the recruitment tests now focus on multiple choice questions which are required for the candidate to fill in the OMR sheet along with the carbon copy. However, that system itself has helped in the malpractice as the CID officials uncovered two methods of fraud employed to score high marks in Paper II.

Method 1: Assistance of Inspectors – Candidates leave most of the questions unanswered on the OMR sheet and the invigilators later fill them in with the correct answers. Till 2016 police officers used to be the invigilators of these examinations. But after allegations that he helped candidates, the department outsourced those working as selected staff as exam centres. However, most of the disturbances at these centers have happened with the help of these supervisors.

Method 2: Via Bluetooth Device — Question papers are leaked from the exam centers to brokers who have a panel of experts answer the questions and transmit them to the aspiring PSI aspirants via Bluetooth devices. Following malpractices in other recruitment examinations, although metal detectors have been deployed at centres, the detectors used in the PSI recruitment examination were very sophisticated, small, skin coloured, made entirely of plastic and, therefore, detectable. were not.

The investigation conducted by the CID revealed that the scam happened at other levels as well – such as the arrangement of seating, during physical selection and booking of examination centres.

select list canceled

State Government on 30 April 2022 Recruitment exam process canceled, canceled the provisional select list of 545 PSI announced in January and decided to conduct the re-examination. Meanwhile, the CID started the forensic analysis of 545 OMR sheets of all the selected candidates.

selected candidates started the protest Demanding that only those indulging in misconduct should be punished and not most of the innocent. Some of them approached the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal opposing the government’s decision.

On May 6, 2022, Home Minister Araga Gyanendra announced in Kalaburagi that the government would set up a fast-track court to hear the case.

Investigation reached Bangalore

As the forensic analysis of OMR sheets progressed, more evidence of irregularities emerged from test takers at centers in Bengaluru. Overall, the CID uncovered malpractice at two centers in Kalaburagi and 7 centers in Bengaluru, while apprehension of malpractice in more than 10 other centres. Today, the total number of candidates arrested in the scam is 48, including 8 from Kalaburagi and 22 from Bengaluru Urban.

Initially the CID officials arrested 16 candidates from Bengaluru and handed them over to the High Ground Police. However, the other six escaped. On July 3, the authorities finally Arrested JagrothWho tops the selection list and is the main accused in the PSI scam.

Some of the touts arrested in the PSI recruitment scam were also accused of malpractices in other recruitment exams of 2021 including Rudragowda Patil, who was booked in a case related to fraud in the enrollment of engineers in the Public Works Department (PWD). . The arrest of more touts was a sign of organized groups actively rigging recruitment examinations. Police officials said that many coaching centers preparing students for competitive examinations have also emerged as fertile grounds for such malpractices and dealings of touts.

Role of Recruitment Cell

With the controversy heating up, it was only a matter of time before CID officials traced the rot all the way up to the strongroom of the police recruitment cell – the first time a misconduct had surfaced in the cell.

In mid-May, close to the arrest of four other junior personnel posted in the cell at the time of the examination, The CID has arrested P. Shanta Kumar, Dy. Head of Police Recruitment Cell SP, Pending an inquiry into his role in the scam, ADGP Amrit Paul – who was heading the recruitment department when the scam came to light – was transferred to the internal security division, with Kamal Pant appointed in his place. Mr Paul was also arrested on 4 July 2022 after being questioned four times by the CID.

the inspection revealed That Mr. Paul had given the key to the strongroom in the CID Annexe building to Mr. Shantha Kumar, where the OMR sheet was kept under tight security. As he was in charge, Mr Shantha Kumar reportedly hired first-class assistants Harsh and RSI Sridhar and Srinivas to help him in various roles: from filling in blank OMR sheets to turning off CCTV cameras.

While in Kalaburagi, OMR sheets were tampered with at the examination centres, for many other candidates in Bengaluru and elsewhere, it later emerged that the OMR sheets were allegedly tampered with in the recruitment cell itself, leading to the failure of the examination. The process was compromised.

political turmoil begins

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress, which has been repeatedly trying to corner the state government with allegations of complicity in the PSI scam, and the BJP are engaged in a war of words over the arrest.

The Congress had claimed a cover-up by the BJP accusing Higher Education Minister CN Ashwath Narayan’s brother of being one of the touts; This was denied by the BJP. Congress leader Priyank Kharge, who released the audio clip of a pimp’s purported conversation, Rejected three notices given by CID to join investigation and give evidence,

After Mr. Paul’s arrest, the opposition Congress Demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Allegedly to try to shield some politicians and officials involved in the scam. The Congress also demanded the immediate sacking of Home Minister Araga Gyanendra, who, it said, misled the government and the public by denying irregularities in recruitment to the state assembly in March 2022.

rigging in the selection process

Lasting over four months, the investigation revealed the systematic manner in which the entire recruitment process was taken to the top of the chain. Those arrested include candidates, the kingpin and his associates, touts and middlemen, examination center staff, police personnel and officers of the recruitment cell.

The sheer nature of the scam once again brought to the fore the culture of bribery in the higher ranks of the police force. The post of Police Sub-Inspector is a coveted government job that comes with perks and the promise of promotions. This year however, around 1.29 lakh candidates applied for only 545 vacancies.

With limited vacancies, it is no surprise that not only has illegal tampering found its way into the recruitment of Police Sub-Inspectors, but also Assistant Professor, PWD Engineer among others. However, the involvement of top police officers and people with political ties has raised serious concerns about a network attempting to recruit candidates who are more likely to follow the line of their political masters.

According to sources, 30 candidates had paid around ₹30 lakh to ₹40 lakh to Shantkumar and Paul for tampering with the OMR sheet and helping them get into the toppers list. While some candidates sold land, others mortgaged their valuables to pay bribes ranging from ₹30 lakh to ₹1 crore to get jobs as PSIs. The police is now investigating the money transaction.

blow to recruitment

The 90,000-strong Karnataka State Police, which was plagued by over 30% vacancies, had launched an aggressive recruitment drive from 2016 with the aim of having no vacancies by 2023-24. Officials believe that the PSI recruitment scam and cancellation of the selection list is a big blow to the recruitment drive.