Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in its charge sheet, filed recently to Third JMFC court here in connection with the Police Sub-inspectors' examination scam has named BJP leader Divya Hagaragi as accused-18 (A18). Prime suspects Irrigation Department junior engineer Manjunath Melkundi and Rudragouda Patil (R D Patil) are A24 and A10 respectively, said a CID source.
The chargesheet has been filed to the court by the CID sleuths in connection with the examination malpractice that allegedly took place at Jnyan Jyothi English Medium School (JJEMS) owned by Divya Hagaragi. A probe is still going on regarding the examination rigging that allegedly took place at M S Irani degree college. The JJEMS had hit headlines in electronic media for about a month after the rigging of PSI examination came to light. Rajesh Hagaragi, Divya's husband is accused-8.
CID Police Inspector K H Dileep Kumar had lodged a complaint with Chowk Police station on April 9 about the alleged rigging in the PSI examination. The CID team which arrived from Bengaluru, first arrested Veeresh Nidagund, the son of an assistant sub-inspector at Sedam police station. Veeresh has been named as A1 in the chargesheet as the scam came to light through him.
While Manjunath Melkundi is facing the charges of manipulating Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets of the candidates. Another main suspect Rudragouda Patil is accused of helping the candidates to mark the right answer by using Bluetooth devices.
Suspended Lingasgur Deputy Superintendent of Police Mallikarjun Saali is accused number-28 in the chargesheet. Though he has no directly involved in the examination malpractice, he is facing the charges of collecting money from the prime suspects.
A CID official, on condition of anonymity, said the accused have been divided into two categories-one is those who tampered with the OMR sheets and another being those involved in the rigging by using Bluetooth devices.
A total of 34 accused including police personnel have been arrested in connection with the examination malpractice. Of them, Suresh Kategaon from Solapur got bail from the court and the remaining accused are languishing in jail.