Berhampur: A three-member CBI team Thursday appeared before the court of District and Sessions Judge here as part of its ongoing probe into the police sub-inspector (SI) recruitment scam. Meanwhile, the court of Special Judge, Vigilance Gyanendra Kumar Barik rejected the bail petitions of three accused, including the alleged mastermind Shankar Prusty. The two others whose bail pleas were denied are Suresh Chandra Nayak, head of Silicon Tech Lab and middleman Sagar Gouda. The bail plea of Arabind Das was not taken up for hearing as his advocate did not show up.
The judge rejected their bail pleas after the public prosecutor appointed by the CBI strongly opposed their bail pleas. During the hearing, four officials, including an additional SP-cum- investigating officer of CBI and the public prosecutor, were present in the court. The three-member CBI team later met Ganjam District Public Prosecutor Bishwajit Baral and Additional Public Prosecutor Rajat Kumar Dash before proceeding to the court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class-Rural (JMFC-Rural).
With Magistrate Ritika Jena on leave, the team submitted its petition before the in-charge JMFC Sushmita Samal. The CBI team has filed a petition seeking transfer of all records and the accused to the CBI court for further proceedings in the case, public prosecutor Baral said.
Notably, the SI exam fraud case earlier saw the arrest of 114 job aspirants and candidates, all of whom have already been released on bail. At present, 12 accused, including the mastermind Prusty, Suresh Chandra Nayak and Arabind Das, remain lodged in Berhampur Circle Jail as undertrial prisoners.
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