The story so far: The Karnataka State Police issued a gazette notification early last year to fill 545 Police sub-inspector (PSI) vacancies. Following physical tests, over 54,000 candidates appeared for the written exam across 92 centres in the State in January 2022. However, in March, irregularities first came to light when a social media post revealed that Veeresh Chandrashekhar, a candidate from Kalaburagi who had ranked 7th, had been awarded 121 out of 150 marks even though he had attempted only 21 questions as per the carbon copy of his OMR sheet. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) probe that followed unveiled one of the biggest recruitment scams in the State, which saw lakhs given in bribes and the arrests of over 60 candidates, local politicians, and top police officials in the Karnataka Police recruitment cell, including its then chief Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Amrit Paul.
How did the malpractice take place?
The format of the PSI exam includes two papers. A comprehension paper for 50 marks and an MCQ paper for 150 marks (100 questions for 1.5 marks each) are to be filled on an OMR sheet. It is in the second paper that the CID officials uncovered two methods of cheating employed to score high marks.
