'OPRB To Start Sub-Inspector Recruitment Process After 'Conspirators' Are Booked,' Says Official

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) said that it would restart the process for recruitment of sub-inspector once the crime branch investigation concludes and conspirators are booked.

The written examination of combined police service exams (CPSE) 2024 for the recruitment of 933 sub-inspectors post was scheduled to be held on October 5 and 6, but was postponed by OPRB on September 30, after Berhampur Police arrested several people, including the 114 aspirants, from the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border.

"OPRB reassures all candidates that once the crime branch investigation concludes, the recruitment process will be resumed and completed at the earliest," an official statement issued by OPRB said.

The OPRB, headed by senior IPS officer S K Nath, feels that there is a "deliberate conspiracy" hatched to foil the recruitment process of the Odisha government, which is evident from the arrest of around 119 people, including 114 aspiring candidates for the SI post.

The police arrested the candidates while they were being taken in three buses to an undisclosed destination in Andhra Pradesh, where they were supposed to be provided with question papers before the written examinations were held in the first week of October, a senior official said on Sunday, adding that there was a conspiracy behind the recruitment process.

"The objective of these conspirators seems to be to stall or delay the ongoing recruitment processes conducted by various agencies," the official said.

In the recruitment process for SI posts, at least three agencies were involved apart from OPRB. After issuing notification for the recruitment for 933 SI posts in January this year, the OPRB assigned the work of examination conduct to ITI Limited, a central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), through a formal tender process.

ITI Limited was, however, allowed to subcontract the work to Silicon Limited, a Bhubaneswar-based private company, for assistance in conducting the examination. Silicon Limited engaged a Berhampur-based firm named Panchsoft Limited.

"The OPRB was not informed when and how ITI Limit also added Pancoft in the process," the official said.

Recently, OPRB has issued a show cause notice to ITI Limited for allegedly failing to fulfil its contractual obligations.

As per the original tender and contract between Odisha Police and ITI Ltd., all major activities - including question paper framing, printing, and related operations - were entrusted to ITI Limited.

"If ITI outsourced any portion of this work to third parties such as Silicon Ltd, the responsibility of oversight and supervision remained entirely with ITI. Similarly, if Silicon further engaged another party such as Panchsoft Ltd, ITI was duty-bound to report and supervise that engagement," the official said.

After the arrest of 119 people in the alleged recruitment sabotage case, the crime branch of Odisha Police has been scrutinising the engagement of the manpower supplier, with the firm's (Panchsoft) director, Shankar Prusty, being a prime suspect, sources said.

Asked why the OPRB itself did not conduct the examination, the official said, "OPRB is a small organisation comprising only three members, three officials, and a few constables, tasked with managing the recruitment process from advertisement to final result publication. Therefore, it engaged ITI Limited, a central PSU having its expertise in the work." The OPRB said, "It is very crucial to identify the real conspirators behind this episode - those who not only sabotaged the examination process but are also attempting to muddy the waters and derail all ongoing recruitment efforts in Odisha. Their actions are a direct betrayal of the aspirations of the state's educated youth and must be exposed and punished."

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