BJD accuses Crime Branch of shielding top figures in Odisha police SI recruitment scam
Bhubaneswar, Oct 17 (UNI) The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today alleged that the Odisha Crime Branch investigation into the Police Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment scam is aimed at protecting influential individuals involved in the case.
Party spokesperson Dr. Lenin Mohanty told reporters that although several senior leaders and top police officials are allegedly linked to the Rs.. 250-crore recruitment scam, the Crime Branch is targeting only lower-level individuals.
Mohanty said the agency appeared “overjoyed” after arresting Muna Mohanty and Rinku Maharana, two close associates of the prime accused Shankar Prusty, nearly three weeks
after the scandal surfaced.
The Crime Branch Director General, while responding to media queries, expressed satisfaction over these arrests, which Mohanty described as “a superficial attempt” that ignored the masterminds behind the scam.
The BJD spokesperson further stated that the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB), which was responsible for recruiting about 933 Sub-Inspectors, had handed the task to ITI, a Central Government agency. ITI then outsourced it to Silicon Techlab, which again subcontracted it to Panchasoft Technologies.
Questioning this chain of outsourcing, Mohanty said, “Since the Police Department functions directly under Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, how was such outsourcing allowed?
Did it have the Chief Minister’s approval or not? This has now become a major question.”
He also accused the Crime Branch of deliberately avoiding investigation into the role of senior officials, alleging a clear attempt to protect powerful individuals involved in the scam.
