APP recruitment scandal: Prosecution dept official arrested

 The Lokayukta police have arrested the administrative officer at the Directorate of Prosecution in connection with the irregularities in the recruitment of 197 assistant public prosecutors (APPs).

The arrested, Narayanasw­amy, has been remanded in judicial custody. The Lokayukta police said that the hand writing of Narayanaswamy was confirmed by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in many answer sheets.

The Lokayukta police had sent sample answer sheets, with additional sheets more than the stipulated pages, to the FSL. Since the FSL report confirmed the handwriting, Narayanaswamy was arrested. The police said that certain answer sheets were tampered with.

The Lokayukta police had started the investigation in 2014. The notification calling for applications for the post of APPs was issued in 2012 and later the written examination was held. The main accused Chandrashekhar Hiremath, former director of Prosecution, had allegedly tampered with the answer sheets. In a subsequent search at his house, the Lokayukta police had seized empty answer sheets. Hiremath had obtained anticipatory bail even before the registration of the FIR.