12 arrested in Karnataka PSI scam, Police on the lookout for 10 more

In the Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scandal, the Karnataka Police arrested 12 candidates. Preparations to arrest 10 more are underway. The candidates are accused of taking exams and bribing middlemen to ensure selection.

The Malleshwaram police in Bengaluru arrested 12 accused following the complaint by the Deputy Superintendent of Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The candidates will remain in custody for 10 days.

The scam has created chaos in the state's political circles and police have already arrested a BJP leader from Kalaburagi district Divya Hagaragi. Senior Congress leaders are being detained in connection with the scandal.

The accused had given their exams in different exam centres on October 3, 2021, and the scam was exposed after anomalies were detected in their answer sheets. The Karnataka government has announced re-exams for 545 PSI posts following the scandal. Another comprehensive analysis of answer sheets of all candidates is also in order.

Results of the exam in question were announced in January 2022 and allegations surfaced that candidates who performed very poorly in descriptive writing received maximum marks in Paper 2. While the police department and the Home Minister denied any irregularities, one of the candidates filed an RTI application seeking information on the OMR sheets of another candidate.

While the RTI application was rejected, the OMR sheet appeared in the public domain. One of the candidates received 100 marks despite answering only 21 questions. He also ranked 7th in the exam.

Soon after the irregularities came to light, Congress MLA Priyank Kharge had alleged over 300 out of the 545 candidates had paid Rs 70-8-0 lakhs in bribes to officials and ministers.