Explained: The Karnataka police recruitment scam in which a top cop has been arrested

 The arrest of an ADGP-rank officer on Tuesday in the alleged Rs 100 crore Karnataka police recruitment scam has led to fresh recriminations between Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah. While Siddaramaiah claimed that the government was trying to cover it up, Bommai asked whether the Congress leader had resigned as chief minister when a recruitment scam had come to light during his tenure. But what is the police recruitment scam? How did it come to light? And how have former top cops and politicos reacted to the latest development? Here’s everything you need to know: The Police Sub-Inspectors (PSI) recruitment drive began in October 2021 to fill 545 posts. As per The Quint, 54,041 candidates across 93 centres in Karnataka applied for the posts. After the results came out in in January 2022, a few students raised objections citing irregularities in the awarding of marks. The matter quickly reached the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. As per Indian Express, in the first week of February, two in-service police constables who had taken the examination wrote to Director General of Police Praveen Sood about irregularities in the exam. Other aspirants also demanded an inquiry. The police denied the allegations and, on 10 March, state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra told the Assembly there was no malpractice. The minister asked for proof, following which an application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheet —used in the objective-type paper — of one of the candidates. But the recruitment wing of Karnataka State Police declined the request, as per Indian Express. Then, an Optical Mark Reading (OMR) answer sheet was leaked. The initial investigation revealed that the candidate Veeresh had attempted just 21 questions out of 130, but managed to somehow secure seventh rank in the examination. It was believed that Veeresh paid off someone to get his rank altered, as per The Quint. On 7 April, the home minister announced an investigation by the Karnataka CID, which registered a case and arrested Veeresh. More arrests followed and finally, on 29 April, Jnanendra said the government had withdrawn the examination results, and that a fresh exam would be conducted soon. Enraged with this move, a few candidates staged a demonstration demanding cancellation of the order which annulled the exam.

However, the government remained adamant and said it will conduct the exam afresh.

While the Opposition accused the involvement of high profile people in the government, Jnanendra said a fair investigation will happen sparing none, however high and mighty they were. The probe will become an example for others and a deterrent against any such malpractices in future in the state. [caption id=“attachment_10877541” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Karnataka Congress leaders stage a protest on the PSI recruitment scandal. File pic/Twitter[/caption] However, the opposition Congress was not happy with the action and demanded the removal of Jnanendra saying he was equally responsible for the PSI scam. Who is Amrit Paul? A 1995 batch officer of the Karnataka cadre, Additional Director General of Police Amrit Paul was heading the recruitment division when the scam took place. As per Indian Express, Paul served as superintendent of police of districts including Ballari and Bidar, and was seen as a contender for the post of Bengaluru police commissioner — a post to which C H Pratap Reddy was appointed in May. As per DNA, this is the first time in the history of Indian Police Service (IPS), Karnataka cadre, that an ADGP rank officer has been arrested. His arrest sent shock waves across the top bureaucracy in the state. After the large-scale irregularities came to light, the senior IPS officer was transferred to the post of the ADGP, Internal Security Division, source said. According to top sources, the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets of the fraudulent candidates were allegedly tampered in the recruitment division itself.

Sources claimed that Paul was allegedly in the know of the happenings.

The ADGP was arrested after he was quizzed by the police at least four times, sources said. “After his arrest, he was taken to the Bowring Hospital for medical examination,” a police official said. He also said that he was produced in a court, which remanded him to 10 days’ police custody. Other arrests in the case Around 70 people have been arrested so far in this connection, sources said. The suspects in this scam had allegedly paid Rs 70 lakh each to get a job. As per The Federal, the following people have been arrested in connection with the scam

• Kushal Kumar J, the first-rank holder in the exam
• Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Shantha Kumar, served in the recruitment division for 12 years. He was in charge of the strong room where the answer sheets were kept. About 20 exam centres were under his supervision
• Sub-Inspector Harish K (2019 batch SI), for allegedly linking candidates and scamsters
• Divya Hagaragi, former president of the BJP’s Kalaburagi district women’s unit and the owner of the Jnana Jyothi English School in Kalaburagi, along with Archana S and Sunanda S, exam invigilators at Hagaragi’s school.
• Mahanthesh Patil, former Afzalpur Congress block president, who had alleged links with the accused.

How was the scam carried out? As per The Hindu, Kumar brought first division assistant Harsha and RSIs Sridhar and Srinivas into the fold to fill blank OMR sheets and switch off the CCTVs. Sources said that ever since Paul was promoted as ADGP and posted to head the recruitment division in 2020, Shantha Kumar, who was working in the division for over a decade, became close to such an extent that he took over all the responsibilities of the department – from preparation of question papers to selection of centres , printing question papers and supply of OMR sheets. Kumar took charge of the strongroom in CID annexe building where the OMR sheets were kept under tight security. Kumar and his associates went to the strongroom and tampered with the OMR sheets, sources told the newspaper. Former top cops express dismay Former senior police officers who served as DGP of Karnataka and ADGP (recruitment and training) speaking to News18 conveyed their dismay and disappointment. Former Karnataka director general of police Dr DV Guruprasad, who was in charge of recruitment and training as the ADGP between 2006 and 2009, said he is “hurt, shocked and dismayed". “My predecessor Ajai Kumar Singh had put together a solid and well-oiled system for the recruitment exam. When I took over, we added technology to make it tamper-proof and ensure the whole examination process was transparent," Guruprasad said.

Guruprasad explained the process thus:

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“The paper sheets were kept in the strongroom and only the ADGP or a senior official accompanied by the ADGP was allowed inside. The strongroom keys were always with me and even if we went into the strongroom, it was recorded in a register and the CCTV camera," he said. “In this case where Amrit Paul has been named, it seems like somebody else had access and used it to tamper with the OMR sheets. They have used Bluetooth devices to write the answers," he said. The ex-top cop said the technology that was used to make the exam tamper-proof was used to tamper with the system. “We also used to print two or three different question papers and send them for printing to two different places. For example, once we sent a set to be printed in Manipal and the other to Hyderabad. Another time, it was sent to Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. Till 24 hours before the paper, nobody except the ADGP recruitment knew which paper was being sent for the examination. Our system was tamper-proof, but what has happened is very sad and disappointing," he said. Aam Aadmi Party member and former Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao told News18, “Now a senior official Amrit Paul has been arrested, it is a first in this country. We don’t know what he has been involved in before, but now we can see the blatant way in which this has been done. Strictest punishment should be awarded to those who are accused," he said. Siddaramaiah, Bommai trade barbs “The ADGP Amrit Paul has been arrested and subsequently suspended in the PSI recruitment scam. When we had raised this issue, this government charged us saying that there were no irregularities or corruption in the recruitment. They said this in March,” Siddaramaiah, the former state chief minister, said at a press conference. [caption id=“attachment_8670891” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Siddaramaiah. Getty images[/caption] “Now in the same case, Amrit Paul who was in charge of recruitment, has been arrested and suspended. Now what they have to say on this?” the Congress stalwart queried. He alleged that the BJP government wanted to cover up the entire case. “According to me, the Chief Minister, who is shielding everyone, should resign because he is the executive head. Further, there should be a judicial inquiry into the case,” the former chief minister demanded. Siddaramaiah also claimed that the raids carried out by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Congress MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan was an attempt to divert public attention from the scam. He also claimed that he has heard about the involvement of a former chief minister’s son in the PSI recruitment scam. Referring to Karnataka High Court judge Justice HP Sandesh’s observation in the open court on Monday that he received a “transfer threat” for his remarks against the functioning of Anti-Corruption Bureau, Siddaramaiah expressed his dismay that even attempts were made to threaten a judge. “They threatened the judge though he was not scared. When the judge is not safe, who is safe here? If the judge had not made his observation public, there would not have been an FIR against IAS officer J Manjunath,” he said. The ACB arrested Manjunath allegedly in a corruption case on Monday after the strong observations made by the court. In a series of tweets, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “More skeletons are falling out of the closet, and the arrest of ADGP Amrit Paul is a classic example for this. What will @BSBommai & @JnanendraAraga say about this now? They went all out to deny any scam, but now there is clear indication of one.” “It is not enough if only officers are blamed for PSI scam. Even Home Minister @JnanendraAraga is equally responsible for this. @BSBommai should first sack Araga Jnanendra from the cabinet,” he added. [caption id=“attachment_10831971” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. ANI[/caption] Meanwhile, Bommai asked if he had resigned when many irregularities in recruitment came to light during his tenure as chief minister. “When Siddaramaiah was the chief minister, the question paper of the police sub-inspector recruitment exam leaked from Kalaburagi. Did he resign then? Going by this parameter, Siddaramaiah should have resigned many times,” Bommai said. He even said the DIG from whose house the question paper leaked was neither arrested, nor suspended during Siddaramaiah’s tenure. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.