Bhubaneswar, Oct 12: The Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) informed that the recruitment process for sub-inspector (SI) posts will resume once the ongoing crime branch investigation is completed and those involved in the alleged conspiracy are brought to justice.
The written examination for the Combined Police Service Examination (CPSE) 2024 — meant to recruit 933 sub-inspectors — was scheduled for October 5 and 6. However, OPRB postponed it on September 30 after Berhampur Police arrested several individuals, including 114 candidates, near the Odisha–Andhra Pradesh border.
“OPRB reassures all candidates that once the crime branch investigation concludes, the recruitment process will be resumed and completed at the earliest,” the board said in an official statement.
The OPRB, led by senior IPS officer S.K. Nath, suspects a “deliberate conspiracy” to disrupt the state government’s recruitment process. This suspicion arose following the arrest of around 119 people, including 114 SI aspirants.
According to police, the arrested candidates were travelling in three buses to an undisclosed location in Andhra Pradesh, where they were allegedly supposed to receive leaked question papers ahead of the scheduled exam.
Three different agencies were involved in the SI recruitment process besides OPRB. After issuing the recruitment notification in January, the board entrusted ITI Limited — a central public sector undertaking (PSU) — with conducting the written examination through a formal tender process.
ITI Limited subsequently subcontracted part of the work to Silicon Limited, a Bhubaneswar-based private company, which in turn engaged a Berhampur-based firm, Panchsoft Limited. “The OPRB was not informed when or how ITI further involved Panchsoft in the process,” the official noted.
OPRB has since issued a show-cause notice to ITI Limited for failing to meet its contractual obligations.
Under the original contract, ITI Limited was responsible for all major tasks, including question paper preparation, printing, and related activities.
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