Congress hushed up PSI paper leak case, says Bommai

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Tuesday that the previous Congress government 'brushed under the carpet' a scam in the recruitment of police sub-inspectors (PSI), a claim he made to show that the ruling BJP is cracking the whip against corruption.

Bommai was reacting to the Congress' demands that he and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra should resign.

"When the Congress was in power, the question paper of the PSI recruitment exam was leaked. A case was booked and a senior police officer become an accused. But, the officer wasn't even questioned, let alone arrested," Bommai said, juxtaposing this with the arrest of ADGP Amrit Paul.

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'Zero tolerance'

"We take strong decisions we have given a full free hand to officers. Second, we have zero tolerance for such activities. Third, we want a continuous process of cleaning up the system irrespective of the big or small fish," Bommai said.

According to Bommai, the PSI scam being probed by the CID now would have been 'covered up' if the Congress was in power. "It would have been covered up systematically. They've done it in the past," he said.

"So, the Congress has no moral right to demand resignations," he added.

Defending Jnanendra, Bommai said the home minister took swift action. "As soon as he got to know about the scam, he got a preliminary inquiry done and came to me with the report. I said we should give it to the CID. He did that the very same day," Bommai said, adding, "He has worked with honesty and integrity in this case."

50 arrested so far

Bommai also pointed out that 50 persons have been arrested so far. "Of them, 20 are police officers as they were involved with recruitment. So, there's no question of us covering anything up or anybody resigning," he said.

When asked about Jnanendra's written replies in the Legislature claiming there was no scam, Bommai said there was no information at the time. "The question is, what did he do after getting to know about the scam, and how fast?"

Speaking to reporters, Jnanendra slammed the Congress. "No case given to the CID when they were in power reached its logical end. By arresting an ADGP, we have demostrated our commitment," he said, adding that RD Patil, one of the main accused, was holed up at a Congress leader's house in Maharashtra.

The Kalaburagi police will file the first charge sheet on Wednesday, he added.