Ninety-four sub-inspector job aspirants, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in cheating, forgery, and fraud related to the examination, were released from jail in Odisha’s Berhampur on Thursday.
A special vigilance court in Berhampur granted conditional bail on Wednesday to a total of 114 aspirants who were arrested by police on October 1 in connection with the recruitment scam. The court permitted their release on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000 along with two sureties.
A total of 94 accused, including six women, were released on bail following the court order, according to DN Barik, senior superintendent of the circle jail.
Sources said another 20 persons, whose bail was sanctioned, were not released because they could not produce the necessary documents.
The jail authorities released them in groups after verifying their documents, officials stated.
As many as 123 persons, including 114 aspirants, were arrested by police in phases on charges of cheating, forgery, and fraud concerning the police sub-inspector examination, which was scheduled to be held on October 5 and 6 by the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB).
The written examination was subsequently postponed until further notice. Others arrested in the case included middlemen and agents of the organized crime syndicate.
Initially, Berhampur police arrested 117 persons, including three agents from the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border area on September 30 night, while they were going towards Andhra Pradesh in three AC buses.
Then, the police, based on the preliminary investigation, stated that the aspiring candidates, who paid first instalment of Rs 10 lakh of the agreed Rs 25 lakh per post of SI to the fraud syndicate, were going to some undisclosed place in Andhra Pradesh to get a copy of the question paper before the written examination.
Police accused all those arrested of engaging in an organized crime intended to sabotage the sub-inspector recruitment examination.
Although the case was initially probed by the local police, it was later transferred to the Crime Branch of Odisha Police.
Subsequently, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi recommended a CBI probe into the incident. However, sources noted that the CBI was yet to initiate the investigation.
