Bhubaneswar, December 29: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed its first chargesheet against 16 persons in a special CBI court here in connection with the irregularities in the sub-inspector recruitment examination.

The CBI on Monday chargesheet names Shankar Prusty as the prime accused. The chargesheet also names Muna Mohanty, Suresh Nayak, Soumya Priyadarshi Samal, Rinku Moharana, Biranchi Nayak, and Nitish Kumar, among nine others.

Of the 16 persons, Crime Branch has arrested nine accused while CBI has so far apprehended seven persons.

On December 22, the CBI had arrested Amit Bharati, a Bihar native in connection with the Police SI recruitment scam. Bharati was apprehended after prime accused Shankar Prusty revealed his involvement in the inter-State fraud following marathon grilling.

For the context, the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) had entrusted ITI Limited, a central PSU in Kolkata, with the responsibility of conducting the SI recruitment examination. ITI Limited had sublet the work to Silicon Tech Lab and key tasks were given to Panchsoft Technologies headed by Shankar.

Both Sankar and Silicon’s promoter Suresh Nayak were earlier arrested by the Crime Branch.

The recruitment drive aimed to fill 933 posts, including 609 police SIs, 253 Armed SIs, 47 Fire Station Officers, and 24 Assistant Jailers, but was abruptly cancelled on Sept 30, just days before the exams scheduled for October 5 and 6.

So far, 130 arrests have been made in connection with the scam. The case first surfaced on September 30, when Berhampur police arrested 117 persons, including 114 candidates.

Meanwhile, all the job aspirants were released on bail by a local court in Berhampur.

The State Crime branch later took over the probe, arresting nine middlemen, before the CBI formally stepped in on November 12.

Sources said, an SP-rank officer of OPRB has reportedly been summoned to appear before the CBI for questioning in connection with the case.