CBI takes over probe of SI recruitment exam scam

Bhubaneswar: CBI on Thursday took over the Odisha sub-inspector (SI) recruitment scam probe from the state crime branch, a day after registration of an FIR at its Bhubaneswar branch.While the crime branch investigation primarily focused on intra-state links among candidates, middlemen and local conspirators, CBI is expected to widen the scope to uncover a potentially larger multi-state conspiracy involving an organised network.“The CBI’s core mandate is to investigate the broader patronage and systemic corruption behind the scam. Those arrested so far by the state police may have been mere foot soldiers acting under instructions from a more powerful and faceless syndicate.

To unearth this deeper nexus, the govt decided to hand over the case to the CBI,” a senior govt official said.Aspirants are now pinning their hopes on the central agency to expand the investigation and scrutinise the possible involvement of officials from Odisha police, Odisha Police Recruitment Board and a Kolkata-based central PSU that was awarded the contract to conduct the Combined Police Service Examination-2024.

The recruitment drive aimed to fill 933 posts, including 609 police SIs, 253 armed SIs, 47 fire station officers and 24 assistant jailers.The PSU sub-contracted the examination process to a Bhubaneswar-based firm owned by Suresh Nayak, one of the accused who is already in judicial custody. Nayak, in turn, outsourced the task to another company owned by Shankar Prusty, who has also been arrested. The exams, originally scheduled for Oct 5 and 6, were abruptly cancelled on Sept 30 after Berhampur police arrested 114 candidates allegedly caught en route to Hyderabad for coaching based on leaked question papers.“Evidence so far confirms the involvement of the two Bhubaneswar-based firms. The CBI must now bring the central PSU under its investigative lens. The PSU cannot wash its hands off of responsibility by merely outsourcing such a sensitive assignment,” a candidate said.Several aspirants have also urged the CBI to trace the origins of the conspiracy — pinpointing when it was conceived and when bribes were exchanged. Reports suggest that candidates were allegedly asked to pay Rs 25 lakh for access to the leaked questions and were even promised selection during interviews, raising serious concerns about the possible complicity of police personnel.