Odisha Police SI recruitment scam: CBI grills 4 more candidates, key details emerge

The investigation into the high-profile Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment examination scam intensified on Saturday, with four more candidates appearing before the CBI for questioning. Officials said the agency is conducting multiple rounds of rigorous interrogation to uncover the full extent of the racket.

According to sources, two candidates had appeared earlier in the morning, while on Friday, the CBI had subjected four individuals to a marathon interrogation session that lasted nearly eight-and-a-half hours.

The agency had issued summons to a total of ten candidates, all of whom have now been questioned. Investigators believe they have already gathered several crucial leads related to the alleged examination malpractice.

Notably, some of the candidates who appeared before the CBI on Saturday had earlier been arrested by the Crime Branch during the initial phase of the probe.

Officials indicated that the fresh rounds of questioning may help expose deeper links within the racket as the investigation progresses.

Before the transfer of the probe to the CBI, the Odisha Crime Branch had conducted multiple rounds of interrogation and obtained judicial custody of the key accused, Shankar Prusty.

Earlier this month, the Crime Branch moved a court in Berhampur seeking permission to conduct polygraph tests on Shankar Prusty, head of Panchsoft Technologies, and another accused, Suresh Chandra Nayak, owner of Silicon Tech.

Investigators claimed the duo gave contradictory statements during questioning, prompting the request for lie-detection tests.

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Prusty, considered a major suspect in the alleged data tampering, was arrested near the Indo-Nepal border after remaining untraceable for more than a month. He was brought to Bhubaneswar for interrogation and was also confronted with another accused, Muna Mohanty, to verify how recruitment-related data was accessed and modified.