Six rank winners in PSI recruitment test among 12 arrested for exam fraud

An investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka police into a fraud in examinations to recruit 545 sub-inspectors (PSIs) for the state police has led to the arrest of six candidates who obtained the second, seventh, ninth, 15th and 17th ranks in the merit category for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region and the first rank for in-service candidates.
An analysis of the provisional selection list for the post of police sub-inspectors that was put out by the chairman of the PSI (civil) recruitment committee, the additional director general of police Amrit Paul on January 19, 2022 (before the scam emerged) compared with details of persons arrested by the CID so far for the exam scam showed that the six arrested candidates took the exam at the same exam hall.
The post of police sub inspectors are highly coveted among young policemen already in service looking to obtain a higher ranking position without having to wait for promotions as well as rural youths who are freshers. As many as 54,051 candidates out of a total of over 1.5 lakh applicants got to write the PSI exam across 92 centres in Karnataka on October 3, 2021.
The six candidates arrested over the exam scam so far are Chetan Nandgaon (second rank), Veeresh N (seventh rank), Praveen Kumar (ninth rank), Vishal S (15th rank) and Arun Patil (17th rank) who were among 67 candidates selected in the provisional list under the merit list for the Kalyana Karnataka region (the backward Hyderabad-Karnataka region located in the north Karnataka).
The sixth candidate who has been arrested is Hayyali Desai who got the first rank among 12 in service policemen who were shortlisted from the Kalyana Karnataka region.
The second rank winner in the exam for the Kalyana Karnataka region Chetan Nandgaon (a jail warden) obtained 31.5 marks in the essay portion of the exam out of a total of 50 marks and obtained 127.5 marks in the objective part – where large-scale rigging is alleged to have happened – to get a total of 159 marks. The first rank winner for the Kalyana Karnataka region Bhagvantray Jogur obtained a total of 167.375 marks (38 for the essay and 129.375 in the objective portion).
The overall first rank winner in the PSI recruitment exam Kushal Kumar J obtained 167.75 marks (30.5 in the written part and 137.25 for the objective part).
The first-rank winner in the in-service category for the Kalyana Karnataka region Hayyali Desai, a gun man for the Congress MLA from Afzalpur MY Patil, obtained a total of 138.875 marks in the exam (with 17 marks in the written part and 121.875 in the objective part). Desai is among the six arrested.
The first rank winner in the in-service category for the whole of Karnataka, Gajendra B, got 155 marks in the exam (29 for the written portion and 126 for the objective part).
The CID police are yet to ascertain if the exam scam played out across more than one exam centre in Karnataka or whether it was restricted to the Jnana Jyoti English School in Kalaburagi owned by a former BJP functionary Divya Hagaragi who is absconding while her husband Rajesh Hagaragi was arrested last week by the CID for involvement in the exam scam.
The five other candidates who were selected from the Jnana Jyoti English School exam centre for recruitment into the Karnataka police force is Roopa, a candidate from the non Kalyana-Karnataka category who obtained 42nd rank among women (128.625 marks including 92.625 in the objective part), Siddugouda from Kalyana Karnataka (22nd rank with 145.625 marks including 125.625 in the objective portion), Mallinath D (46th rank with 136.125 marks including 95.625 in objective), Shantibai (third rank among Kalyana Karnataka women with 127.25 marks including 101.25 objective) and Premila B (fourth rank among Kalyana Karnataka women with 125.625 mark – 97.125 in objective).
“No candidate or invigilation or supporting staff who are found to have indulged in malpractice will go unpunished. The interests of genuine candidates will be fully protected,” the Karnataka director general of police Praveen Sood said in an official statement. “Further action on the exams will be taken only after CID completes its investigation and gives a conclusive report,” the DGP said.