Shantabai, a resident of Konapur S.N. Tanda at Sedam taluk in Kalaburagi district and one of the candidates who had allegedly connived with the kingpins of the PSI recruitment scam and committed malpractice in the PSI recruitment examination, and her husband Basya Naik were arrested by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Hyderabad and brought to Kalaburagi on Monday.
During the investigation, the CID had found that Ms. Shantabai had struck a deal with Manjunath Melakundi, one of the key accused in the scam, through Jyothi Patil, a staff of Shahabad Municipal Council, for ₹40 lakh. Ms. Jyothi Patil had confessed that she had, on behalf of Mr. Melakundi, received ₹10 lakh from Shantabai before her name appeared on the provisional selection list. The scam came to light when Shantabai was still arranging the remaining amount of ₹30 lakh to pay Mr. Melakundi.
A team of CID sleuths headed by Shankaragouda Patil immediately went to Konapur Tanda to arrest Ms. Shantabai. However, she and her husband had, along with their two children, escaped before the team entered the hamlet. The accused remain incommunicado by switching off their mobile phones.
R.D. Patil again in CID custody
The local court has given R.D. Patil, another key accused in the scam, to CID custody for four more days. The CID had taken the accused to its custody for seven days for questioning him about the malpractice and irregularities reported in M.S. Irani College.
Public Prosecutor Shivasharanappa Hotapeta told the court that the accused had not cooperated with the investigating agency during his custody and appealed for his CID custody for seven more days. Considering the request, Santosh Srivastava, the judge, ordered for four-day CID custody.
