A day after the arrest of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Amrit Paul in the police sub-inspectors (PSI) recruitment scam, the opposition Congress demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for allegedly making attempts to protect some politicians and officials involved in the alleged scam.
The Congress also demanded immediate sacking of Home Minister Araga Jnanendra who allegedly misled the government and the public by denying the scam or irregularities in the recruitment scam in the State legislature in March 2022.
While Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said Mr. Bommai has ‘no moral authority to continue’ as CM, KPCC president D K Shivakumar said Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot should take the initiative to dismiss the government for allegedly attempting to hush up the multi-crore PSI scam.
Mr Shivakumar termed the CID probe into the PSI scam as ‘nothing but an eyewash’, and demanded a judicial probe for a thorough investigation.
Mr Siddaramaiah reiterated his demand for a judicial probe since the CID would not be able to arrest the politicians and ministers allegedly involved in the scam. “How can an ADGP tamper with OMR sheets of the recruitment exam without orders from higher-ups in the government?”
He also demanded a probe into all recruitment carried out by Mr Paul who had handled appointments in various departments.
ADGP Amrit Paul was heading the recruitment division when the scam broke out.
Citing his controversial remarks, Mr Siddaramaiah said Home Minister Araga Jnanendra ‘is unfit to continue in the office’, and Mr Bommai should sack him immediately. “The Home minister misled the legislature in March 2022 by claiming that no scam had occurred in the recruitment of PSIs.”
Both Congress leaders said crores of money had been exchanged among politicians and senior officials allegedly involved in the scam. While some candidates sold land, others pledged their valuables to pay bribes ranging from ₹30 lakh to ₹1 crore to get a job as a PSI. About 1.29 lakh candidates had applied for the post of which only 545 were selected.
Both leaders condemned threats issued to judges of the High Court of Karnataka, and thanked the judiciary for exposing the corruption in the government.
The CID has so far arrested over 60 persons, including the topper of the PSI recruitment exam, who were allegedly using middlemen and officials to get the OMR sheets filled up after the exam.
In April 2022, in the backdrop of alleged malpractices in the PSI recruitment examination, the government had cancelled the results.
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that 54,289 candidates appeared for the examination, and they would be eligible to appear in another examination to be conducted by the government.
