One more person arrested in Odisha's SI recruitment scam

Bhubaneswar, Nov 12 (PTI) Another person was arrested in connection with the sub-inspector recruitment scam in Odisha on Wednesday, police said.

The Crime Branch of the state police arrested Sagar Kumar Gouda (22), a close aide of the key accused, Sankar Prusty. He had played a pivotal role in supervising the operations of the 'Balasore module', they said.

With the arrest of Gouda, a total of 126 people, including 114 aspirants, have been held in connection with the case. The aspirants have already been released on bail after spending a month in jail.

Police claimed Gouda coordinated logistical arrangements and ensured execution of the plan on the ground. It has also been established that he visited Digha on September 29, where hotel accommodations had been booked by one Aravinda Das for a group of aspirants, they said.

On the recommendation of the state government, the Centre has accorded permission for a CBI probe into the multi-crore recruitment scam.

The irregularities were detected after 114 aspirants and three suspected brokers were nabbed on the night of September 29 at the state’s border with Andhra Pradesh when they were going to a "special coaching" centre in Vijayanagaram from Bhubaneswar.

The arrested aspirants had paid Rs 10 lakh each to the racket, and were supposed to pay another Rs 25 lakh after securing the job, police said.

Later, some more brokers and the mastermind of the scam, Prusty, were arrested.

Another 110 candidates were supposed to undergo similar 'coaching' in West Bengal's Digha, located on the Odisha border, on September 30, but due to police action in Berhampur, it was cancelled, officials said.

Prusty, who owned Panchsoft Technologies -- a company that got a part of the contract to conduct the recruitment test, has claimed that the scam involved irregularities worth Rs 1,000 crore, and he "surrendered" to unmask those involved in the conspiracy. PTI BBM BBM SOM