The alleged mastermind behind the multi-crore Odisha Police Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment examination scam was arrested from the India-Nepal border in Uttarakhand, police said on Sunday.
The suspected mastermind, identified as Shankar Prusty, was on the run for over a month after the scam came to the fore on September 30.
Prusty was nabbed on Saturday with the help of Uttarakhand Police and the Crime Branch brought him to Bhubaneswar on Sunday morning on a transit remand, they said.
A statement issued by the Crime Branch said, “A team under the leadership of DSP Anila Anand of CID CB was continuously following him. He was frequently changing his location. Finally, he was traced by the team and arrested near the Nepal border in Uttarakhand.”
Prusty, aged 32, is a resident of Jagannathpur Junction, under Chamkhandi Police Station in Ganjam district. He is the owner of Panchsoft Technologies, which was given a part of the contract to conduct the written examination for filling 933 sub-inspector posts in the police and other uniformed services, at Patia in Bhubaneswar.
It is being said that Prusty orchestrated the SI recruitment examination scam along with his other associate, Muna Mohanty, Srikanta Maharana alias Rinku, Arabinda Das, T. Abhimanyu Dora and Priyadarsini Samal.
With this, a total of 124 people, including 114 job aspirants, have been arrested in the multi-crore Odisha SI recruitment scam. The job aspirants were, however, released on bail two days ago.
After arresting Prusty, he was flown him to Bhubaneswar from Delhi. From the Bhubaneswar airport, he was directly taken to the Crime Branch headquarters in Cuttack for interrogation, officials said.
Meanwhile, Prusty claimed innocence and said that he was in no way involved in the alleged irregularities. He further claimed that a conspiracy had been hatched against him.
Upon arrival at the Bhubaneswar Airport, the accused told media persons, “I have no link to the scam, to Muna Mohanty, or any of the accused persons. Will give all the information about the persons who have hatched the conspiracy. I was not hiding. I have already approached both the Orissa High Court and the Supreme Court seeking justice. All the charges against me are false. I am sure I will get bail,” he said.
He also denied having any connections with other accused persons in connection with the matter.
The team of the Odisha Crime Branch nabbed Prusty from near Nepal border in Uttarakhand on Saturday while he was trying to flee the country. He was reportedly planning to travel to Dubai.
The Crime Branch had earlier issued lookout circulars for Sankar Prusty and his close associate, Muna Mohanty, in connection with the Odisha Police SI recruitment examination scam.
However, the police succeeded in apprehending Mohanty and several others from the Dasapalla area of Nayagarh district last month.
On Sunday, the Odisha Police also told that the Crime Branch team seized incriminating documents, Fortuner car, costly mobile phones and passport from the possession of Prusty.
The recruitment examination was scheduled to be held on October 5 and 6, but was postponed after the irregularities were detected, officials said.
The irregularities were detected after the 114 aspirants and three suspected brokers were nabbed on the night of September 29 at the state’s border with Andhra Pradesh when they were going to a “special coaching” centre in Vijayanagaram from Bhubaneswar.
The OPRB had outsourced the conduct of the Combined Police Service Examination (CPSE) 2024 to PSU ITI Ltd, which further sub-contracted the work to Bhubaneswar-based Silicon Techlab.
Silicon Techlab, in turn, assigned key responsibilities to Panchsoft Technologies, headed by Prusty.
The arrested aspirants had paid Rs 10 lakh each to the racket, and were supposed to pay another Rs 25 lakh after securing the job, police said.
Later, some more brokers were arrested, including the aides of the mastermind. However, the mastermind is yet to be nabbed.
Another 110 candidates were supposed to get similar ‘coaching’ in West Bengal’s Digha, which is located on the Odisha border, on September 30, but due to the police action in Berhampur, it was cancelled, police said.
The state government has recommended a CBI investigation into the scam as it has inter-state implications, involving organised gangs.
