Karnataka PSI Recruitment Scam: 12 more arrested, kingpin surrenders

The scam came to light when a candidate, who had attempted only 21 questions in the OMR sheet with 100 questions, was shown as if he scored 100 marks.

Bengaluru:The City's High Grounds police on Saturday arrested 12 candidates in connection with the PSI recruitment scam. With this, the number of people arrested in the police sub-inspector (PSI) recruitment scam has crossed 30, including the kingpin and BJP leader Divya Hagaragi. The arrested candidates are ones who wrote exams at several examination centers all over the state in the year 2020-21.

The CID probe, which was initially confined to Kalburgi, has now expanded to the capital city. Additionally, cops have also arrested a constable from Jeevan Bhimanagara traffic station. An accused from Mangalore surrendered to the police. He told the reporters that since he wasn't feeling well, he hadn't turned himself in.

One of the alleged kingpins, an Assistant Engineer at the Irrigation Department, was absconding for 20 days. surrendered to the CID office on Sunday. However, he claimed that he wasn't related to the scam in any way and that he was in Mangaluru when the exam scam took place. The scam came to light when a candidate, who had attempted only 21 questions in the OMR sheet with 100 questions, was shown as if he scored 100 marks.

During the investigation, CID received a carbon copy of all the candidates' OMR sheets. Among them, irregularities were found in at least the sheets of 22 candidates.

It also emerged during the investigation that Rs 75 lakh to Rs 80 lakh was charged from candidates. The Karnataka government annulled the PSI examination on Friday following alleged large-scale irregularities to fill 545 posts. Over 54,000 people from across the state had applied for the job.

READ:BJP leader and Main accused in PSI recruitment scam Divya Hagaragi held