Bhubaneswar: In a major breakthrough in the police sub-inspector (SI) recruitment examination scam, Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Saturday arrested the alleged mastermind, Shankar Prusty, near Nepal border area in Uttarakhand.
According to sources, he was nabbed near Nepal border while trying to return to India through Uttarakhand. It was earlier reported that he might have fled to Dubai to evade arrest.
Prusty had managed flee Odisha and travelled to Nepal via Delhi soon after the scam came to the fore after Berhampur Police intercepted three buses near the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border on September 30 and detained 117 people, including three agents.
The Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB), according to reports, had 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.