Recruitment exam scam: Teacher-student nexus to high-end tech

While even a single recruitment scam lands a heavy blow on aspiring candidates struggling hard to clear exams, two in succession is enough to dent their morale. That the government has annulled the results of Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment makes it clear that the process, prima facie, was riddled with wrongdoing.

The government has also decided to register complaints about the recruitment of assistant professors as candidates appearing for the exams exposed that question papers were leaked to benefit a few.

A brawl over the pending payment of bribes spilled the beans on the PSI recruitment scam. Sridhar Pawar — among the candidates who cleared the exam — reportedly had a disagreement with one Veeresh Nidagund, as the latter was yet to pay Rs 5 lakh to Sridhar for introducing him to Manjunath Melkundi, one of the key accused in the scam. Apparently, Sridhar had introduced Veeresh to Manjunath to help cheat in the recruitment exam.

Veeresh, one of the beneficiaries of the fraud, had marked only 21 answers in the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet when the exam was held on October 3, 2021 at Jnyan Jyothi English Medium School (JJEMS) in Kalaburagi. But his score in the exam was 127 marks and was included in the provisional selection list.

Veeresh, after the results were announced, displayed the carbon copy of the OMR sheet that he had retained. Sridhar clicked a picture of the carbon copy using his mobile phone, which subsequently went viral on social media platforms.

Skeletons started tumbling out of the closet soon after as several key conspirators of the scam were nabbed by the police, including BJP leader Divya Hagaragi who ran JJEMS, staff from the school, exam invigilators, Congress block president Mahantesh Patil, among others.

Bluetooth devices

Mahantesh's brother Rudragouda Patil also played a key role in the scam. He reportedly procured Bluetooth devices from Odisha to commit irregularities. According to police sources, he allegedly supplied these devices to a few candidates — who had paid bribes to the tune of Rs 50 lakh — in the examination hall through invigilators. He also collected question papers of different versions in advance and contacted experts to get correct answers for them.

He got in touch with these candidates on the day of the exam and learnt the question paper series received by them and provided answers accordingly, say sources.

The role of other police officials also emerged eventually as Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested Lingasugur Deputy Superintendent of Police Mallikarjun Sali, Circle Inspector (fingerprint) Anand Methri, KSRP Assistant Commandant Vaijanath Revoor and constable Hayyali Desai for their alleged role in the fraud. They were suspended from the service.

Question paper leak

Irregularities in the recruitment of assistant professors were exposed after a candidate learnt that the question paper of the Geography exam held on March 14, was leaked. The question paper was forwarded to her by a friend — who was also appearing for the exam — minutes before she entered the exam hall.

The candidate saw the message after the exam was over and forwarded it to a few of her other friends, suspecting that something was fishy. By the time the person who sent her the message requested her to delete the question paper, many aspirants had discovered the leak.

According to sources, there were thick rumours that candidates could get question papers or favourable results based on payment of bribes of Rs 40 lakh. It was also alleged that many personnel at Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) were involved apart from political leaders.

After the leaked question paper attracted the attention of the authorities, two persons — a question paper setter and his PhD student, who had forwarded the question paper to a friend — were arrested. There has been little progress in the case after the arrest of those two and the case has been transferred to Central Crime Branch for further investigation. The candidates from other subjects too suspect similar malpractices.

There are different complaints at Kalaburagi and Tumakuru filed by the candidates demanding an inquiry. A petition was also filed with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai demanding a CID probe.

(With inputs from Rashmi Belur in Bengaluru.)