Odisha police-job-for-cash scam: Court grants bail to 114 arrested job seekers

A Special Vigilance Court in Odisha’s Berhampur city has granted conditional bail to 114 job aspirants who were earlier arrested in connection with the much-publicized jobs-for-cash scam in the police sub-inspector recruitment examination.

Till date, as many as 123 persons, including nine middlemen, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the scam. While the court granted bail to 114 job-seekers who had colluded with the scammers to pass the test, nine others who perpetrated the scam by luring the aspirants to get the police SI job in exchange of huge sums of money were denied bail. The middlemen were allegedly paid Rs 10 lakh in advance by the job seekers, who were told to pay an additional sum of Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh after getting the job.

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The court allowed bail to 114 accused persons on Rs 50,000 bail bond along with two sureties for each accused. Besides, they were asked to cooperate with investigating agencies in the probe as and when required.

The written test of the Combined Police Service Examination, 2024, was scheduled to be held on October 5 and 6, but was postponed by the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) after 117 job aspirants including three middlemen were arrested in Berhampur. Later, the Crime Branch took into custody six more accused persons in connection with the recruitment scandal. The Criminal Investigation Department wing of the Crime Branch was entrusted with investigation of the case.

However, bowing to demands from several quarters, including the Opposition and job aspirants, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on 22 October announced to hand over the investigation of the high-profile case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Besides, the CM also announced that the government is considering setting up a permanent commission for selection of personnel in the police and other uniformed services.

The slip mainly is being blamed upon outsourcing the process of conducting the examination to dubious private agencies. Making mockery of the system, the conspirators used it as a tool to collect money from job aspirants. They were allegedly taking the candidates to an undisclosed destination in Andhra Pradesh on buses a few days before the test to help them prepare and train well for the exam.

The government-run Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) had awarded the conducting of the exam to ITI Limited, a central PSU, which later subcontracted the exam conduct process to Bhubaneswar-based Silicon Techlab and Panchsoft Technologies, ironically headed by Sankar, one of the masterminds of the scam.

As many as 1.53 lakh candidates applied for 933 police sub-inspector posts, the recruitment test of which now stands postponed. The exam was earlier scheduled to be held on 8-9 March. It was then rescheduled for 5-6 October.