Bengaluru: The Karnataka high court on Thursday issued a notice to the state government on a public interest litigation filed by Congress MLA Priyank M Kharge seeking a court-monitored investigation into the police sub-inspector (PSI) recruitment scam through a Special Investigation Team.
In his plea, Kharge has said that the roles of top officials in the government, including cabinet ministers, had not been investigated by the state Criminal Investigation Department during its probe into the PSI recruitment scam. The plea states that several candidates accused in the scam were linked to a cabinet minister.
Senior advocate Vikram Huilgol, appearing for the petitioner, argued that preliminary investigation has revealed the involvement of various high-ranking officers of the Karnataka government and high-net-worth individuals. The plea states that despite the investigation being transferred to CID, which is still under the control of the state home department, it has been unable to make any headway in unearthing the alleged nexus between candidates, officers and politicians.
It is also claimed that in an audio clip, allegedly containing the voice of BJP MLA Basavaraj Dhadesugur, it was indicated that the scam did take place in the PSI recruitment process allegedly involving senior police officers, politicians, members of ruling party.
Apart from the government, a division bench of Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty also issued a notice to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and asked the department to submit a status report on the investigation in three weeks.
Over 100 people have been arrested till now in the PSI exam scam, including over 50 candidates who used various illegal means to emerge toppers. Some candidates used Bluetooth devices in the exam hall, some were assisted by the police recruitment cell and others were helped by staff at the exam centres.
After the malpractice came to light, the CID has filed multiple first information reports (FIRs) in connection with the case, the first of which was filed in Kalaburagi in April last year. Several police personnel, including additional director general of police (ADGP) Amrit Paul, some deputy superintendents of police and inspectors, besides a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Divya Hagaragi, who owned the Jnana Jyothi English Medium School in Kalaburagi and the gunman of a Congress legislator have been arrested in connection with the case so far. All the accused have been released on bail.
Police have alleged that two gangs were operating in Kalaburagi. The first gang involved in answer sheet tampering using invigilators was headed by BJP leader Hagaragi, while the second gang led by Rudragouda Patil operated using Bluetooth devices.
A total of 545 candidates cleared the PSI exam in January last year from a group of 54,287 candidates who took the written exam in October 2021 from 150,000 aspirants. After the irregularities came to light, the CID asked all candidates to submit the copy of answer sheets, provided to them at the exam centre, and sent them for forensic tests.
Rudregowda Patil was also released from jail on December 18 last year after he was granted bail by the Karnataka high court. On January 19, a team of CID officers visited Patil’s house in Akkamahadevi layout in Kalburgi city to serve him an arrest warrant. But, Patil fled from the backdoor of his house.
A day later, a fresh case was registered against Patil in connection with the case at the Ashokanagara police station, based on a complaint by CID inspector Anand.
