The re-examination for the recruitment of 545 police sub-inspectors (PSI), being conducted on Sunday, has run into a controversy after an audio clip of a constable talking to an aspirant about “ensuring a job and getting the question paper beforehand” went viral on Friday.
However, Home Minister G. Parameshwara said the official in the audio clip is a State Intelligence officer, who has claimed to have made a fake call to an aspirant as part of his job to ferret out information about possible malpractices. “The investigation is on and we will take stringent action if any malpractice is found,” he said. However, this has not gone down well with the Opposition leaders who have alleged a cover-up and demanded a detailed probe into the allegations. “There needs to be a thorough probe into these allegations and they should not be brushed under the carpet,” said BJP leader C.T. Ravi.
Senior officials probing the allegations told The Hindu that till now the investigations have neither revealed any exchange of money nor a question paper leak, as alleged.
Following the audio clip going viral, PSI post aspirants complained to the Chandra Layout police on Friday and the case was transferred to the Central Crime Branch (CCB). The person in the audio clip has been identified as Lingaiah, a constable with the State Intelligence. He has been detained and questioned. Senior police officials who questioned him said the official claims to be conducting a sting operation and was stringing along the aspirant to ferret out more information about possible malpractices.
The exam to recruit 545 PSIs that was held in 2021 was cancelled by the State government after large-scale irregularities were reported during the exam. Probe into these led to the arrest of the then chief of the police recruitment cell Additional Director-General of Police Amrit Paul. The recruitment scam was one of the planks used by the Congress against the BJP in the Assembly elections. Now, a dark shadow of malpractice has been cast over the re-examination as well.
