Bhubaneswar: After being arrested by the Crime Branch in Uttarakhand, the alleged mastermind of the high-profile Odisha Police Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment examination scam, Shankar Prusty, was brought to Bhubaneswar on Sunday amid tight security.
As per sources, he was apprehended near Nepal border on Saturday night while trying to return to India through Uttarakhand. It was earlier reported that he might have fled to Dubai to evade arrest. Prusty, who owns Panchsoft Technologies, had been absconding since the scam surfaced.
Following his arrest, Prusty was flown from New Delhi to Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar on Sunday morning under heavy security cover. Soon after arrival, he was reportedly escorted to the Crime Branch headquarters in Cuttack for interrogation.
Police sources said Prusty’s formal arrest memo and transit procedures were completed in Delhi before departure.
Speaking to reporters on arrival, Prusty denied his involvement in the scandal and claimed innocence. He claimed that he had no link with the scam, to Muna Mohanty, or any of the accused persons.
“The allegations brought against me are false and baseless. I have full faith in law and the legal process. I have no connection with Muna Mohanty or those involved in the scam. I have already approached both the Orissa High Court and the Supreme Court seeking justice. I am sure I will get bail,” he said.
Crime Branch sources said Prusty’s movements across several states were being traced after he went underground following the detection of massive irregularities in the SI recruitment process conducted by the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB).
After fleeing, he allegedly used multiple SIM cards and digital communication channels to avoid being traced and had moved through Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand before reaching the Nepal border region.
Acting on intelligence inputs, a special Crime Branch team, with the assistance of local police in Uttarakhand, nabbed late on Saturday while he was reportedly preparing documents and logistics for travel to Dubai.
The operation to trace and apprehend him was coordinated under the supervision of senior Crime Branch officials and executed following a sustained digital and ground-level surveillance effort.
Notably, Prusty had fled Odisha and travelled to Nepal via Delhi soon after the scam came to the fore when Berhampur Police intercepted three buses near the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border on September 30 and detained 117 people, including three agents.
The OPRB had reportedly outsourced the conduct of the Combined Police Service Examination (CPSE) 2024 to ITI Limited, a central public-sector undertaking (PSU) headquartered in Kolkata. However, ITI Limited further sub-contracted the job to Bhubaneswar-based Silicon Techlab, which in turn assigned key responsibilities to Panchsoft Technologies headed by Prusty.
“It is learnt that he (Prusty) in collusion with Silicon Techlab was planning to engage in large-scale organised malpractices during CPSE,” the TNIE earlier reported, quoting a confidential intelligence report.
It further revealed that the SI exam candidates were assured access to question papers prior to the exams in exchange for kickbacks ranging from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh each. The syndicate reached out to approximately 500 candidates and organised their lodging at hotels near the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border.
Prusty closely monitored the syndicate through agents who contacted aspirants, collected original certificates and blank cheques, and promised question papers.
On October 16, the Crime Branch arrested his two main associates Munna Mohanty and Srikanta Maharana alias Rinku. And a day later, four more accused Priyadarsini Samal, T Abhimanyu Dora, Arabinda Das and Biswaranjan Behera, who were agents and part of the syndicate run by Prusty, were also nabbed.
Reports further claimed that Prusty was charged in a murder case in Ganjam district eight years back. He was also previously booked in a fake certificate racket.
On October 22, the Odisha government recommended a CBI investigation into the alleged multi-crore scam to dismantle the network of alleged corruption, which is believed to have inter-state implications involving organised gangs.