Crime Branch nabs another accused in Odisha multi-crore SI Exam scam
Bhubaneswar: The police in Odisha have arrested another key accused in connection with the multi-crore Police Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment examination scam, revealed the Crime Branch in a press statement on Monday.
The Crime Branch identified the accused as Suresh Nayak, promoter of M/s Silicon Tech Pvt. Ltd., who was solely responsible for the preparation, printing, and transportation of the question papers for the examination.
It is pertinent to mention that the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) had entrusted the conduct of the Combined Police Service Examination (CPSE)-2024 for SI recruitment to ITI Limited, which later sublet the work to M/s Silicon Tech Pvt. Ltd.
The private agency, in turn, reportedly engaged Panchsoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd. to execute key components of the examination process.
During the investigation, the Crime Branch found that Sankar Prusty, Director of Panchsoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd., orchestrated the entire SI recruitment scam with the help of his associates — Muna Mohanty, Srikanta Maharana alias Rinku, Arabinda Das, T. Abhimanyu Dora, and Priyadarsini Samal.
A Crime Branch team had earlier succeeded in arresting Prusty, the mastermind, from Uttarakhand along the Indo-Nepal border, while he was allegedly attempting to flee the country.
The Crime Branch further stated that Nayak maintained close links with Prusty.
“During the course of investigation, it came to light that Nayak was in continuous contact with the mastermind Prusty. Evidence has established that Nayak had provided shelter to Prusty in his company guest house at Kalkaji, New Delhi, and then alerted him to abscond from the said premises and evade police arrest and investigation, which clearly established their nexus,” the Crime Branch informed.
Notably, the Odisha Police had first busted the large-scale scam with the arrest of 114 aspirants and three middlemen following the interception of three buses in Andhra Pradesh on the night of September 29.
Several more associates of the mastermind were subsequently arrested during the ongoing investigation.