Many who cracked Karnataka PSI exam sat idle in halls: CID evidence

BENGALURU: Close on the heels of forensic reports showing tampering of OMR sheets of aspirants in the PSI recruitment examination, the CID has gathered crucial evidence showing that several candidates who aced the exam had actually whiled away time in the halls.
The probe, which has picked up pace with the arrest of senior IPS officer and ADGP Amrit Paul, however, has a long way to go as far as gathering of evidence pertaining to corruption and establishing links between candidates and influential people are concerned.
Multiple interrogators from the investigating agency and invigilators that oversaw the exam said several candidates were seen sleeping in the halls, while some were sitting idle.
“We have CCTV footage that proves this and we’ve questioned invigilators about the same. We have recorded their statements too,” one officer from the investigating team said.
One of the invigilators said that such behaviour by candidates does not raise a red flag unless someone has prior information that something fishy could happen at their centre.
“...As invigilators, we stay vigilant about candidates trying to copy, either from other aspirants or through chits or technology that enables them to get answers. That’s our job. However, if someone is not writing the exam or is seen sleeping on the desk without disturbing others, it is not a concern as ultimately it is for the candidate to write or not write the exam,” an invigilator said.
It remains unclear if the CID has presented the CCTV footage before courts yet. “It will eventually be part of our evidence, given its significance,” an officer said.
Another officer explained candidates seen not writing in the answersheet but later getting selected is a clear indication of corruption. “...But if we are to get to the bigwigs in the scam, we need more investigation,” the officer said.
While officers did not immediately reveal the exact number of candidates found doing this in the exam halls, they said it had been established that several of them left answer booklets incomplete for them to be tampered with at a later stage.
Documents accessed by TOI show that CID officials have filed at least three separate cases “related to candidates wasting time in halls without writing and later took them up for further investigation”. All these cases pertain to Bengaluru and were filed in June.
In one case, CID inspector Nagappa C filed a complaint against a candidate named Mohan Kumar HG in Koramangala police station on June 5. Kumar had appeared for the exam at Karnataka Reddy Jana Sangha College in Koramangala 3rd Block.
“Kumar did not provide a satisfactory reply about the tampering in his OMR sheet. Investigation revealed that he attempted only a few questions in the hall and later somebody else filled the answers somewhere else in his OMR sheet,” the FIR reads.
Similarly, as per another case with Ulsoor police station filed on June 8, Kushal Kumar J, who had appeared for the examination at St Anne’s Girls PU College, had also not filled the answer booklet completely.
While the Ulsoor case was based on a complaint filed by CID inspector Prasheela, another case was registered by Ramamurthynagar police based on a complaint from CID DSP Shivakumar S. In the last case, Harish HB wrote the exam at New Horizon College.