PSI recruitment scam: Gyan Jyoti English Medium School principal surrenders

Kashinath, principal of Gyan Jyoti English Medium School in Kalaburagi, surrendered after arrested BJP leader Divya Hagaragi claimed during questioning that he was the mastermind of the malpractices in the PSI recruitment exam scam

Kashinath is the principal of Gyan Jyoti English Medium School in Kalaburagi, run by BJP leader Divya Hagaragi, where the alleged malpractices were reported. | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI

Kashinath, principal of Gyan Jyoti English Medium School in Kalaburagi, where the malpractices in the examination for the recruitment of Police Sub-Inspectors (PSIs) were reported and the one of the key accused in the scam, surrendered before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka police on May 2.

His surrender came after BJP leader Divya Hagaragi, who ran the institution, had revealed during questioning that he was the mastermind who had played a key role by minutely planning and executing the malpractices.

Manjunath Melakundi, an Assistant Engineer in the Irrigation Department who was one of the prime accused in the scam, had surrendered before the CID on May 1.

According to sources in the CID, Mr. Melakundi was constructing a house at Jayanagar in Kalaburagi at a cost of around ₹3 crore. He was planning to visit some foreign countries to purchase materials for the interiors of the house. He abandoned the plan when the scam was exposed and went incommunicado. He had travelled to Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Karwar and some towns in Andhra Pradesh to evade arrest before surrendering on May 1.

The CID had also taken Sridhar Pawar, the candidate who had exposed the scam by sharing OMR sheets on social media, into custody on May 1.

Children meet arrested BJP leader

Ms. Hagaragi’s children, who were sent to their grandparents’ place in Vijayapura district when as the scam broke out, met her in the CID office at Aiwan-e-Shahi State Guest House on May 2. Ms. Hagaragi, who was absconding till April 28, was arrested in Pune on April 29 and later brought to Kalaburagi. Ms. Hagaragi broke down on seeing her children.

Local BJP leader Bhagirathi Gunnapur, a close associate of Ms. Hagaragi and president of the BJP’s women wing in Kalaburagi district, was denied permission to meet Ms. Hagaragi. Bhagirathi Gunnapur waited for some time outside the CID office at Aiwan-e-Shahi Guest House, but had to return without meeting Ms. Hagaragi.

Some BJP leaders, including the party’s State unit spokesperson and Sedam MLA Rajkumar Patil Telkur, had claimed that Ms. Hagaragi was not a BJP leader soon after her name surfaced in the scam.