ED Attaches Assets of Karnataka IPS Officer in SI Recruitment Scam
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has seized the assets of Karnataka cadre IPS officer Amrit Paul and a police constable as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of police sub-inspector (SI) in the state between 2021-22. The attached properties include residential units, the federal agency said in a statement released Saturday.
On Friday, an order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the total assets of Paul and head police officer Sridhar H, amounting to Rs 1.53 crore.
Paul, a 1995-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was arrested by the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) in 2022 for his alleged involvement in “irregularities” in the SI recruitment process. At that time, he was serving as Additional Director General of Police (Recruitment).
The investigation pertains to the recruitment exercise of the Karnataka Police to fill 545 vacant sub-inspector posts. According to the ED, a provisional list of successful candidates was published, but after the provisional results were announced, allegations of corruption and irregularities in the examination process emerged.
ED said, “Paul played a crucial role in the conspiracy by facilitating unauthorized access to the safe room where the OMR answer sheets were kept. He handed over the keys of the almirah containing the safe room keys to Deputy SP Shanth Kumar and allowed his accomplices, including Sridhar H, to tamper with the OMR papers of undeserving candidates to ensure their selection.” ED claimed.
The accused collected “bribes” ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 70 lakh per candidate, the agency said, adding that the illegal proceeds were used for housing construction. The Emergency Service had previously filed a criminal complaint with the court as part of this investigation.
In a separate case in Karnataka, the ED issued an interim order on January 21 to attach a plot of land and two flats worth Rs 19.46 crore to BMS Education Trust.
The foundation is accused of “seat-blocking fraud” at engineering colleges controlled by it, and is alleged to have collected cash “in excess” of the set fees during the admission process.
“The cash was collected by the BMS Education Foundation management directly from the students and also through representatives acting as educational consultants,” ED said. he said and added that this amount was not disclosed in the foundation’s account book.
Allegedly, the “unaccounted” cash obtained from the sale of engineering seats was used for the personal interests of the BMS Education Foundation board of trustees.
