Explained: Role of Amrit Paul in PSI scam

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that is probing the Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scam, on Wednesday submitted a 1,975-page charge sheet against 34 accused before the Third Judicial Magistrate of First Class Court.
The PSI recruitment scam hogged limelight after the CID arrested Amrit Paul, an on-duty senior IPS officer of the ADGP rank. It was revealed that Paul was heading the Police Recruitment Cell, Karnataka, when the scam was unearthed. It was found that the OMR sheets were allegedly tampered with in the office.
Amrit Paul, who was arrested on Monday, has denied all charges against him and is not cooperating with the investigators, according to sources in the CID.

What is the Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scam?

In October 2021, a recruitment examination was held for the appointment of 545 PSIs. This was attended by 54,041 candidates across 93 centres in Karnataka. While the results were announced in January 2022, a few students raised objections citing irregularities in the awarding of marks. Soon, the matter reached the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. A week later, an OMR (Optical Mark Reading) answer-sheet of one Veeresh got leaked. As per the initial investigation, it was revealed that Veeresh had attended only 21 questions out of 130, but secured seventh rank in the examination. It was believed that he had paid off someone to get his rank altered.

Following investigations, surrounding this incident, a scam was unearthed which came to be known as the PSI scam. Both leaders from ruling BJP and Opposition Congress have been arrested by the CID causing major embarrassment to both the parties. The CID officers are now focusing on the kingpins behind the scandal.

What were the malpractices detected?

According to the police, the cheating took place at multiple levels. Unfilled OMR answer-sheets were submitted, for someone ‘on the inside’ to fill in the correct answers. Some candidates used Bluetooth devices to cheat while writing the exam. At some centres, the invigilators provided answers to the candidates. CID probe has also revealed that many candidates who managed to crack PSI exams sat idle in examination halls.

The CCTV footage of the examination halls proved this fact. Many of the candidates were also found napping during the exams, as per sources. Later, the allegations surfaced that candidates who gave very poor performance in descriptive writing got maximum marks in Paper 2. However, the police department and the Home Minister denied any irregularities in PSI exams. The Karnataka government had announced re-exams for 545 PSI posts after the scandal came to light.

What is the role of Amrit Paul in the scam?

Besides Divya Hagaragi, her husband Rajesh Hagaragi, and several other officials including senior IPS officer Amrit Paul have been arrested in connection with the recruitment scam.
Investigations have revealed that Paul was in constant touch with DySP Shanthakumar through Whatsapp calls. Shanthakumar was arrested in May following investigations. The two officers have spoken after the exams and on the days of fabrication of OMR sheets. The CID officials are using the call list as evidence to prove the collusion, the sources said.

DySP Shantakumar has confessed to the crime and revealed information about the involvement of ADGP Amrit Paul. However, Amrit Paul maintains that he does not know anything about the scandal. Further probe is on into the examination frauds committed at MS Irani College and Nobel Examination Centers. The allegations include use of Bluetooth devices in examination halls, OMR Sheet fabrication, violation of examination rules, sale of PSI posts and destruction of evidence