A day after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested a gunman posted with M.Y. Patil, Afzalpur Congress MLA, the agency on Friday arrested Afzalpur Block Congress president Mahantesh D. Patil in connection with the PSI recruitment scam.
Mahantesh Patil was allegedly part of the gang that rigged the evaluation of the PSI recruitment exam where candidates offering a bribe in the range of ₹70-80 Lakh were given more marks, leading to their names jumping up in the merit list. He was the alleged link between Hayyali Desai, the gunman of M.sY. Patil, and key accused in the scam Divya Hagaragi, a BJP leader associated with Gyan Jyoti Institute which was the exam centre. While her husband Rajesh Hagaragi has been arrested and is in judicial custody, Divya Hagaragi is still at large.
The police have also arrested Vishal Shiroor from Kalaburagi and Sharanabasappa from Afzalpur taluk.
The CID sleuths intensified the probe after they suspected that the students who appeared for the PSI recruitment exam specifically at Gyan Jyoti School centre used bluetooth devices. Based on the preliminary investigation, it is learnt that Vishal wrote the exams using bluetooth, while Sharanabasappa and Mahantesh Patil helped.
The number of people arrested in the alleged fraud rose to 12.
Meanwhile, Praveen Sood, DG & IGP, Karnataka State Police, said utmost care was being taken to ensure nobody who has indulged in malpractice benefits from it, jeopardizing the interest of other honest candidates. “We have decided to debar all candidates proven to have indulged in malpractice from any recruitment for life,” he said.
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said the CID was given a free hand to carry out the probe and there was no question of sparing or protecting anyone involved in the scam, be it politicians or officers. “A gunman and a local Congress leader have been arrested and the police are on the lookout for Divya Hagaragi and she will be arrested soon,” he said.
