Probe into PSI recruitment scam transparent: HM Araga Jnanendra
Bengaluru, Sep 20: The Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Tuesday told the State Assembly that the inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into the police sub-inspector recruitment scam is transparent and that the High Court has appreciated the way the probe was conducted.
The Opposition Congress has been demanding a judicial probe into the scam by a sitting High Court judge.
The CID is conducting an inquiry in a transparent manner. A total of 97 people has been arrested and they include 48 candidates and 26 policemen, Jnanendra told the Karnataka Assembly amid a din with Congress MLAs trooping into the well of the House.
The CID is conducting the inquiry properly. Since the matter is sub judice, I will not share more details. There is nothing suspicious in the investigation as has been stated by the Opposition, he said.
The Home Minister was replying during the discussion on the PSI recruitment scam.
He said the money to the tune of Rs 8 crore deposited in the banks and mutual funds has been frozen and 506 gm of gold seized.
The money deposited by R D Patil, the kingpin of the act of using a bluetooth device in the scam, and his aides have been seized. Patil is involved in all the eight cases, Jnanendra told the House.
According to him, the suspended Additional Director General of Police Amrit Paul, who was later arrested by the CID, had kept Rs 41 lakh with Shambhu Lingaiah.
This amount was collected from the candidates, he said.
Another accused Sridhar had kept Rs 1.71 crore with his wife and 70 lakh with his another relative Naveen, Janendra said.
The Home Minister apprised the House that the government wanted ADGP Paul to undergo la ie detection test but he did not agree to it.
The Opposition was not content with these replies and continued raising slogans demanding the judicial probe.
The Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah who started the discussion said he Kalaburagi city BJP Mahila Morcha president Divya Hagaragi was arrested in this connection.
Despite objection from certain quarters, her Jnana Jyothi School in Kalaburagi was one of the centres where the illegalities took place, Siddaramaiah stated.
He alleged that the government was in denial from the beginning even when the State Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chavan wrote to the government on February 5, 2022 pointing to large-scale irregularities in the PSI recruitment.
The former chief minister said the Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal too had alleged widespread corruption in the PSI recruitment and had even suspected the involvement for a former chief minister and his son.
Further, Siddaramaiah said BJP MLA Basavaraj Dhadesugur's audio in which a conversation on the exchange of Rs 15 lakh took place with a candidate's father Parasappa.
Prabhu Chavan, Yatnal, Dhadesugur and Parasappa must also be investigated. You issue notice to our Congress MLA Priyank Kharge and not to these people, the Congress leader sought to know.
Kharge was served notice for holding a press conference in Kalaburagi regarding this case.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy defended serving notices to Kharge saying that the Congress MLA should explain how did he get the audio-clip which he played in the press conference.
You were in possession of evidences. That means you have colluded. You made a business, the Minister charged.
The Congressmen then trooped in the well of the House for accusing their member and also demanding a judicial probe into the matter.
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
