Odisha Police SI exam scam: CBI gets two-day remand of key accused; face-to-face interrogation likely

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday secured two-day custody of four prime accused in the Odisha Police Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment scam, including Muna Mohanty, Srikant Maharana, T. Abhimanyu Dora and Priyadarshini Samal.

Sources reported that all four were produced before a Bhubaneswar court, which granted remand to facilitate sustained questioning on their alleged roles in manipulating the examination process.

Separately, the CBI also obtained a two-day remand of Nitish Kumar, who was arrested in Bihar and brought to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. His interrogation is expected to provide clarity on the emerging inter-state links that investigators have identified in recent phases of the probe.

Face-To-Face Interrogation

According to reports, all five accused will undergo face-to-face questioning to determine the chain of involvement and identify individuals who may have played supervisory or facilitative roles in the scam. The agency aims to trace the connections between the accused and assess whether additional operatives or senior actors contributed to the irregularities.

The latest remands come days after the CBI arrested Special Security Battalion jawan Arjun Nayak and middleman Nimai Charan Sahu in Bhubaneswar, following two days of sustained interrogation.

Nimai has been identified as a close associate of previously arrested middleman Biranchi Nayak, who remains central to the case. Investigators are analysing transaction records and communications to map the operational structure of the fraud.

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OPRB Officials Under Scrutiny As Probe Widens

The investigation has now turned toward four officials of the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB), including a DSP-rank officer, who are under scrutiny for possible procedural breaches or collusion.

With arrests earlier made by the Crime Branch and successive detentions by the CBI, the total number of individuals questioned in connection with the scam has grown steadily, making it one of the state's most extensive recruitment-related inquiries.