Deputy Superintendent of Police Shanthakumar is among 30 people charged in the police sub-inspector exam scam that rocked the state a few months ago and saw a series of arrests, including that of a top IPS officer.
The CID submitted a 3,036-page interim charge sheet before the first ACMM court on Wednesday, but didn't name Shanthakumar's former boss, ADGP Amrit Paul - the most high-profile official arrested in the case.
An investigation into Paul's involvement is still ongoing and he will likely be named in the additional charge sheet which will be filed in a few days, sources said.
As per the charge sheet, a team of officials led by Shanthakumar spent three hours tampering with the OMR sheets of examinees for a Rs 2.5-crore bribe, sources said. The OMR sheets were stored in a strongroom in Annexe-2 at the CID headquarters and the CCTV cameras in the room were turned off at the time.
The charge sheet contains Shanthakumar's statement in which he claimed that Paul, who was ADGP (Recruitment) when the scam took place, knew about the tampering and had himself given him the key to the strongroom. In return, Paul was paid Rs 1.6 crore, Shanthakumar's statement says, according to sources.
Quoting the charge sheet, sources said Shanthakumar, first division assistant (FDA) Harsha, reserve sub-inspector Sridhar and constables Srinivas and Lokesh contacted 30 candidates and demanded Rs 60 lakh to pass them in the exam. The money was collected before the candidates took the exam on October 3 last year.
Police seized Rs 2.5 crore after raiding the residences of Harsha and Sridhar.
The charge sheet also names seven middlemen including Shashidhar, Venkatesh, Sharath and Manjunath. As many as 202 witness statements and 330 pieces of evidence are part of the charge sheet, sources said.