BENGALURU: Senior IPS officer and Additional Director General of Police (Internal Security Division) Amrit Paul was arrested here on Monday for his alleged role in the police sub-inspector (PSI) recruitment scam. It's the first time in the state in recent times that such a high-ranking police officer has been arrested.
The government suspended him on Monday night.
Paul, questioned four times by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over his alleged involvement, was heading the Karnataka police recruitment cell before he was shunted out two months ago. He was subjected to a medical examination at the state-run Bowring hospital and produced before a court which remanded him to police custody for 13 days.
Paul came under the scanner following the recruitment scam in which around 30 candidates secured top ranks by indulging in malpractices, including tampering with the OMR sheets after colluding with middlemen and some police officers handling recruitment.
The recruitment examination in October 2021 for appointment of 545 sub-inspectors was attended by 54,000 candidates in 93 centres across the state and the results were announced this January. The scam was exposed following reports of large-scale rigging with regard to allotment of examination centres and allegations of bribery to secure top ranks. Under pressure, the government annulled the results and ordered a CID probe. Investigation revealed that the police recruitment cell was the hub of the scam. Some candidates reportedly paid around Rs 50 lakh to get examination centres where cheating was facilitated by touts who also included small-time politicians.
OMR sheets were tampered with in cop’s office, says home minister
This apart, the OMR (optical mark recognition) answer sheets were tampered with and received at the recruitment cell in Bengaluru. In fact, one selected candidate who wrote the exam in Kalaburagi had secured 121 marks (out of 150) while he had only answered questions for 31.5 marks.
The CID has arrested 79 persons, including a few top-rankers. They include deputy superintendent of police Shantaraju, who was in the recruitment cell for the past 10 years. Based on his statement, CID had summoned Paul for questioning.
Karnataka's home minister Araga Jnanendra said: "This recruitment fraud is a horrible thing to have happened, it is shameful that a senior police officer has been arrested."
He added: "When the CID team was constituted to probe the scam, we made it very clear that the investigation should be done in a transparent and unbiased manner. There has been no political interference in the investigation which is also being monitored by the high court. Those involved will face stern action."
On Paul's role, he said: "He was the supreme authority in the recruitment scam. In fact, OMR sheets were tampered in his office. The investigation is on."
