Four arrested in Odisha for role in massive ‘recruitment scam’

The Crime Branch of Odisha Police has arrested four persons in connection with a major recruitment scam that used its network to rig the process and help candidates get jobs as sub-inspectors.

“We have arrested four persons for their involvement in recruitment scam. They were helping job seekers intensively practice selected question sets in Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh and Digha in West Bengal,” Additional Director General of Police (Crime Branch) Vinaytosha Mishra said on Friday.

The matter came to light when Berhampur police arrested 114 candidates who were taken to Andhra Pradesh in buses to collect leaked question papers for the upcoming Combined Police Service Examination (CPSE) 2024.

Leaked documents

Among those arrested were Muna Mohanty, his assistant Srikant Moharana, Soumya Priyadarshini Samal and Abhimanyu Dora.

“Muna Mohanty was the key accused who provided transport to candidates wishing to travel to Vizianagaram, while Arbind Das, who was arrested earlier, was responsible for providing optional questions and arranging the practice in Digha. Both were reporting to the main accused Shankar Prusty, who operated from New Delhi,” explained Mr. Mishra.

The CPSE 2024 advertisement, which aims to recruit 933 police sub-inspectors, was released in January 2025. According to sources, Central Public Sector Corporation Indian Telephone Industries Limited (ITI) has been tasked with conducting the exam. ITI initially partnered with Gujarat-based Richminds Digital Private Limited for this task, but later terminated the agreement and brought in Odisha-based Silicon Digitech as its new partner.

Manipulate recruitment

Silicon Digitech then subcontracted the work to Panchsoft Technologies, an inexperienced firm based in Berhampur. Panchsoft, headed by the prime defendant Prusty, allegedly raised large amounts of money to manipulate the hiring process.

Crime Branch Headquarters said arrangements were made to coach 110 candidates in Digha and ₹35,000 each was paid to a hotel for the same.

“We are still working to eliminate the scam completely. We have seized 110 mobile phones. After the bus was detained, all candidates were asked to delete their WhatsApp chats. We are in the process of retrieving the chats through forensic examinations,” he said.

The Crime Branch said the same group of accused may also have been involved in other recruitment scams. Investigators said prime accused Shankar Prusty’s extremely wealthy lifestyle at a young age was certainly suspicious.