A company at the centre of the Odisha Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment examination scandal, which was later blacklisted by the state government, had surprisingly received a clean chit from the state crime branch regarding its integrity just weeks before the exam was to be held. This revelation comes from an official letter accessed by The Times of India.
From Clean Chit to Judicial Custody
Silicon Techlab Pvt Ltd, whose director Suresh Nayak is now in judicial custody, was engaged by central public sector undertaking ITI Limited. ITI had a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Odisha Police for the overall conduct of the SI recruitment exam. The recently filed CBI chargesheet alleges that Silicon Techlab, tasked with preparing the question papers, swapped them during printing at a press in Kolkata.
The recruitment examination, scheduled for October 5 and 6, 2025, was abruptly cancelled on September 30, 2025 following widespread allegations of a paper leak. The scam first came to light on that date when Berhampur police arrested 117 individuals, including candidates and alleged middlemen.
The Flawed Background Verification
Documents reveal a critical lapse in the vetting process. ITI Limited had sought approval from the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) to appoint Silicon Techlab as its third-party vendor for question paper preparation and printing. Acting on this, on July 31, 2025, the OPRB wrote to the crime branch requesting a thorough background and integrity check of the company.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Diptimayee Mallick submitted her inquiry report on August 4, 2025, finding no adverse remarks against Silicon Techlab. The crime branch's verification report described the company as a provider of enterprise-grade IT services to multiple government departments across India. Based on this clean report, Silicon Techlab was formally appointed as the vendor for the SI exam the very next day, on August 5, 2025.
The company's profile was impressive on paper. It had previously worked with the governments of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, and Delhi, as well as several central departments including education, healthcare, labour, energy, agriculture, and tourism. It was also actively involved in conducting competitive examinations, both OMR and computer-based tests, for government and private organisations nationwide.
Aftermath and Demands for Wider Scrutiny
The crime branch later took over the probe and arrested director Suresh Nayak on November 3, 2025. Following the scandal, the state government cancelled Silicon Techlab's empanelment on December 3, 2025. Later, on December 23, 2025, the Orissa High Court blacklisted the company for five years over alleged irregularities in the recruitment of assistant section officers for the High Court in July 2025.
Retired police officer P K Swain criticised the verification process, stating, "The crime branch should have conducted a more rigorous verification of the company, which handled recruitment processes for government and private agencies since 2018. After the company’s role in the SI scam came to light, all its previous engagements must come under CBI scrutiny."
Defending its actions, a crime branch officer said, "When we conducted the background verification, we did not come across any wrongdoing. No criminal case was previously registered against the company. We arrested the company’s director when we found evidence." This sequence of events raises serious questions about the efficacy of pre-tender verification processes for sensitive government contracts, especially those involving high-stakes recruitment.
