PSI accused associated with BJP granted bail

NT Correspondent

Kalaburagi: The Kalaburagi Session Court on Thursday granted bail to alleged Police SubInspector (PSI) recruitment scam ringleader Divya Hagaragi and 25 others.

In April, CID had raided the house of the former BJ P women’s wing in Kalaburagi district, Divya Hagaragi, who runs the Jnana Jyoti school, the examination centre where most of the egregious of the cheating is supposed to have taken place.

The others who’ve been granted bail are Manjunath Melakundi and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mallikarjuna. Judge KB Patil also accepted the bail applications of eight candidates, five examination invigilators and three police officers.As many as 36 accused persons have received bail in the case.

The PSI recruitment exam took place in October 2021, and results appeared on January 20, quickly followed by objections being raised by students. More than 54,000 aspirants had appeared for the exams, but only 545 posts were up for grabs.

One candidate Mohan Kumar rightly pointed out that the candidates from one exam centre in Kalaburagi – Jnana Jyoti English medium school – had cleared the tests in large numbers. However, others noted the disparity in candidates’ performance. They had done poorly in Paper 1 but exceedingly well in Paper 2.

As a result, more exam centres came under the scanner thereafter. Talk of police complicity gained traction and Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Amrit Paul was arrested on July 4 in the scam wherein Rs100 crore had allegedly exchanged hands.