Bhubaneswar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), investigating the alleged irregularities and corruption in the Odisha Police Sub-Inspector recruitment examination, has taken four accused on a three-day remand for interrogation.
They are Biswa Ranjan Behera, Lokanath Sahoo,Tafim Ahmad Khan and Biswaranjan Harichandan.
“Though the agency had requested a four-day remand, the CBI court allowed a three-day custodial interrogation of the four,” a defence advocate was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
The questioning is likely to begin on Thursday.
Behera, a suspended police constable, had allegedly netted at least five candidates promising them police jobs, recruitment for which was being conducted by the Odisha Police Recruitment Board through the CPSE. The 29-year-old apparently collected original certificates and blank cheques from candidates, who were arrested on October 1 by the Berhampur police, in lieu of providing questions to them. He handed over the documents to senior members of the syndicate.
Biswajit Harichandan, Loknath Sahoo, and Tafim Ahmad Khan were the three middlemen, who were arrested along with 114 candidates by Berhampur Police after intercepting three AC sleeper buses near the Andhra Pradesh border in Golanthara on September 30. Following which, the exams for filling up 933 posts — 609 police SIs, 253 armed SIs, 47 fire station officers and 24 assistant jailers — and scheduled for October 5-6 was cancelled abruptly.
Each candidate had agreed to pay Rs 25 lakh in instalments, Rs 10 lakh as advance and the remaining Rs 15 lakh after they were selected for the job.
According to CBI sources, the interrogation of Behera and Sahoo is required to trace the money trail and uncover the larger conspiracy angle. The agency has already questioned several candidates, including some who are now out on bail.
The central agency took over the probe from the state crime branch on November 12, amid the possibility of a larger conspiracy with interstate implications. The initial investigation had revealed that the racket had access to the CPSE database of applicants and its top members had employed middlemen, like Biswaranjan, in different districts.
