Karnataka Police SI recruitment 'scam': ED searches premises of jailed IPS officer, others
New Delhi, Nov 11: The ED on Friday said it has searched the premises of jailed IPS officer Amrit Paul, some government officials and private persons in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the police sub-inspector recruitment "scam" in Karnataka in 2021.
The federal investigative agency said the operation, undertaken on Thursday at 11 premises in Bengaluru and Patiala in Punjab, led to the "discovery and seizure of various incriminating records and electronic gadgets."
The residential premises of Paul were also covered, it said.
The alleged scam pertains to the Karnataka Police recruitment cell conducting an examination last year for filling up 545 vacancies of sub-inspectors in the state police department.
"After the results were out, there were allegations of cheating, corrupt practices in the said examination, due to which the Karnataka government ordered an investigation into the matter," the Enforcement Directorate said.
The probe was taken over by the CID wing of the Bengaluru Police which became the basis for the ED complaint that was registered under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Various FIRs were filed by the police against candidates, middlemen and police officials in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi.
The police later conducted searches at various premises and arrested Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Paul and more than 100 people, including aspirants who allegedly paid money to get selected, in this case.
Paul was the head of the police recruitment cell, as its additional director general (recruitment), when the alleged irregularities took place.
"During CID investigation, it was observed that there was tampering of OMR sheets in the strong room of the recruitment cell at CID headquarters, Carlton House, Bengaluru.
"Police officers, in-charge of the strong room of recruitment cell, switched off the CCTV cameras and two armed head constables entered the strong room and tampered with the OMR sheet. The police officials collected money from candidates for facilitating their selection using illegal means," the agency said.
The police sub-inspector recruitment drive started in October 2021 to fill 545 posts and 54,041 people wrote the exam.
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RR beat RCB by six wickets in IPL
Guwahati (PTI): Blistering fifties by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel powered Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Friday.
Sent in to bat, RCB rode on a fighting half-century by skipper Rajat Patidar (63) to post 201 for 8.
Virat Kohli (32), Romario Shepherd (22) and Venkatesh Iyer (29) also chipped in with useful contributions.
In reply, Sooryavanshi (78 off 26 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (81 not out off 43 balls) shared a 37-ball 108-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform. Krunal Pandya (2/30) tried to bring them back with back-to-back wickets.
But Jurel, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja (24), completed the task with another 68-run stand, with two overs to spare.
For RR, Jofra Archer (2/33), Ravi Bishnoi (2/32) and Brijesh Sharma (2/37) took two wickets.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63; Jofra Archer 2/33, Ravi Bishnoi 2/32, Brijesh Sharma 2/37).
Rajasthan Royals: 202 for 4 in 18 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Dhruv Jurel 80 not out; Krunal Pandya 2/30, Josh Hazlewood 2/44).
