Bhubaneswar: A CBI court on Saturday issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against eight middlemen involved in the sub-inspector recruitment scam. The CBI is investigating the recruitment scam of sub-inspectors in the Odisha police force.
The eight persons named in the FIR did not turn up before the CBI despite repeated notices served on them, a communication from the CBI stated. There are altogether 133 accused in the case, including 114 candidates. The middlemen or agents, according to the investigation, are suspected to have facilitated the use of unfair means during the recruitment process.
Out of the eight middlemen wanted in the case, three are from Bihar and were identified as Sanjay Kumar, Ashis Kumar, and Gopi Raman. The other five are identified as Anwesh Nayak, Balram Pradhan, Dharmendra Pradhan, Govind Tripathy, and Gopal Krishna Das. They have been charged with engineering the recruitment scam, the communication read. There are three other suspects, Ravikant Kumar, Santosh Paswan, and Jitendra Kumar, absconding in the case, but NBWs are yet to be issued against them, CBI officials said.
CBI sources said the investigation has uncovered the truth behind the alleged tampering of exam data and unauthorized access to digital systems during the process. The agency also investigated how the alleged manipulation occurred, who facilitated it, and whether monetary transactions were involved.
The Centre issued a notification on November 11 last year authorizing the CBI to investigate the case. The state government had recommended a CBI probe earlier. Before transferring the case, the state crime branch had obtained judicial custody of the prime accused, Shankar Prusty. After remaining at large for a month, Prusty was arrested near the Indo-Nepal border. He and another accused, Muna Mohanty, were interrogated together.
