Karnataka PSI scam: Congress demands resignation of CM, home minister

“The former head of the recruitment cell has been arrested and suspended over the PSI recruitment scam. This government had denied this scam when we raised it in the legislature. The chief minister and the home minister attacked us. In March, during the state assembly session, they said there was no corruption. Now, in the same issue, the head of recruitment has been arrested and suspended and he has been sent to police custody for 10 days,” Siddaramaiah said.

“There are allegations of involvement of ministers, the CM, the son of a former CM, Vijayendra, in the recruitment scandal. The CM should resign as he is the executive head of the state when these things have occurred,” former CM Siddaramaiah said.

“There is an allegation against minister Ashwathnarayan as well since five persons known to him have gained recruitment illegally. Even a relative of the minister has been arrested. There are allegations that over 300 candidates cheated. There are allegations that candidates paid between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore to middlemen to clear the exam – we need to know who are the other persons who received these illegal funds. The CM is protecting the people involved,” Siddaramaiah said. “First they said there was no scam in the PSI recruitment and that it was impossible for such a scam to occur. How can the home minister and the CM continue now?” he said.

State Congress chief D K Shivakumar said the government was directly responsible for the situation and “the CM should take moral responsibility”. “A judicial inquiry should be held. The CM and home minister should resign. The home minister said on several occasions in the legislative council that no scam had occurred in the recruitment of PSIs,” he said.

Karnataka Chief Minister Bommai in his response said that Congress leaders had no moral right in demanding resignations since similar things had occurred during the Congress tenure. “The home minister has discharged his duty honestly and efficiently. It is only because of his honesty and efficiency that irregularities have been exposed. Congress has no moral right to demand the home minister’s resignation,” Bommai said on Tuesday.

“We have zero tolerance for such irregularities. We are working with an objective to cleanse the system, whether it is the top officers or lower rung personnel, we will get to the bottom of the case. If Congress were in power, they would have buried the case. They have done it in the past. They have no moral right to demand the resignation of anyone,” Bommai said.

Congress leaders, however, questioned Bommai’s stance and said it was unacceptable.

“If there was corruption in the Congress tenure, they should have said it at that time, what is the point of saying it now? The chief minister has failed in the discharge of his duties and is claiming that these things happened during the Congress tenure as well. What were they doing in the opposition if these things happened in the past – it is not a defence at all,” former CM Siddaramaiah said.

The Criminal Investigation Department of the Karnataka police arrested senior IPS officer Amrith Paul, an additional director general of police, in connection with the PSI scam on Monday. The scam involves the recruitment of candidates who paid between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 80 lakh to agents and middlemen to get answers filled up in OMR sheets provided for the written recruitment exam.

Out of nearly 1.5 lakh aspirants for 545 police sub-inspector posts, as many as 56,000 wrote the written exam on October 3, 2021 and the results were announced in January this year. Following large-scale complaints of selection of undeserving candidates, a CID probe was ordered by the BJP government.

The probe has led to the arrest of 30 candidates, including those who secured the first 10 ranks in the exam, as well as police officials of the police recruitment cell, including the ADGP, agents and middlemen. The probe has found that the answer sheets of the candidate who made payments to officials through the agents and middlemen were filled up with external assistance during the exam in some centres and at the recruitment cell itself in Bengaluru after the answer sheets were received.