18 people arrested for malpractice in Karnataka Examination Authority exam

mangaloretoday.com/News18

Kalaburgi, Oct 29, 2023: Karnataka police have arrested as many as 18 people who were allegedly involved in malpractice during the recruitment exam held by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) on Saturday.

 

According to the police, nine people were arrested in Kalaburgi and nine in the state’s Yadgir district. A police officer said five people who were giving away answers over the phone were among those arrested.

On Saturday, the KEA had held examinations to fill posts for First Division Assistant (FDA) in various boards and corporations.

Karnataka’s Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scam kingpin R D Patil also has been named in the FIR after one of the aspirants who was caught revealed Patil’s involvement in the malpractice.

A police officer said a raid was conducted by KEA officials who found that an aspirant was using a Bluetooth device and was getting answers from outside. Soon after taking him into custody, they found others were also a part of the gang.

“We have been able to arrest aspirants who were in eight different examination centres,” the officer added.

A candidate named Thrimurthy from Afzalpur was attending an examination with Bluetooth in his ear and a receiver near his abdomen.

The police said Thrimurthy’s brother Ambareesh was relaying the answers to him from outside the centre. When questioned, they said R D Patil’s associates had given the answer key to them.

Who is R D Patil?

R D Patil, 39, is one of the prime accused in Karnataka’s Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scam. He is facing 16 cases related to the rigging of recruitment examinations.

Patil, who had declared assets worth Rs 6.58 crore including his spouse, also contested as Samajwadi Party in Afzalpur constituency in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly election.

A civil contractor, Patil is the brother of former Congress Afzalpur unit president Mahanthesh D Patil.

More than 54,000 aspirants appeared for the PSI exam held in October 2021 to recruit 545 police sub-inspectors. After the results were announced in January 2022, some aspirants alleged irregularities in the selection process and the police started an investigation.

The case was later handed over to the CID, which has arrested over 100 people including police officers, aspirants and political leaders. An ADGP-rank officer, Amrit Paul, was also arrested in the case. He was released on bail later.