The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials on Sunday froze bank accounts of Rudragouda Patil, one of the key accused in the police sub-inspectors’ recruitment exam scam, apart from taking possession of property documents, gold ornaments and cash belonging to the accused.
The CID officials seized three lockers from a private bank and recovered 506 grams of gold and also found ₹38 lakh in his bank accounts. However, there were no valid documents of how he acquired the huge amount of money and other assets. The police were also tracing various bank accounts belonging to Mr. Patil.
He was shifted to Kalaburagi Central Prison, as his CID custody ends here on Sunday.
According to sources, the CID sleuths would again take Mr. Patil into custody to investigate his alleged involvement in the malpractices reported at another examination centre, M.S. Irani College, in the city. A separate case was registered against Rudragouda Patil, Chandrakant Kulkarni, Prabhu and Sharanappa at Station Bazaar police station for the illegality carried out in PSI recruitment exam in this centre.
Suspended
Manjunath Melakundi, an assistant engineer at Irrigation Department and a key accused in the case, has been suspended for his alleged involvement in the scam.
During interrogation, it was revealed that Mr. Melakundi was arrested and taken to custody for his involvement in the malpractices in the competitive exams for recruitment of assistant engineer and junior engineer at Public Works Department held in December 2021. The accused was arrested for helping candidates to write exams using Bluetooth devices at an exam centre in Bengaluru.
The accused who was in judicial custody between December 2021 and January 2022 was provided with medical leave to draw his salary. Suryakant Maale, Executive Engineer, Kalaburagi Division at Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL) said that a 15 days medical leave was approved for Mr. Melakundi.
Mr. Melakundi, who was on the run for 15 days after the PSI exam scam came to light, surrendered to the CID sleuths on May 1. The chief engineer of Irrigation Department on Saturday issued a suspension order for him.
On Sunday, CID officials conducted the mahazar at Gyan Jyoti English Medium School for the second time. The school was run by BJP leader Divya Hagaragi, another prime accused in the case. The officials also inspected the residence of Ms. Hagaragi.
