MLA Kharge gets 3rd notice in K'taka PSI scam, says he's not obligated to depose

With the police issuing a third notice to depose before the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with the police sub-inspector recruitment scam, Congress MLA Priyank Kharge said he is not obligated in any manner to either provide documents or appear before them.

''I wish to reiterate that I am not a ‘witness’ to any of the illegal and unlawful action alleged to have taken place in the ‘scam’ and ‘crime’ as referred by you, and therefore I am not obligated in any manner to either provide documents or appear before you,” Kharge said in his reply to the Director General of Police (CID) on Thursday.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Pradesh Committee shared his letter to the DGP (CID) with the media.

The CID, which has been entrusted with probing the case, has asked the Chittapur MLA in Kalaburagi district to furnish details as he had held a press conference on April 23 sharing documents and audio clips related to the scam.

Kharge, a former minister himself and the son of Congress stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge, did not appear before the CID even after the third notice was served on him.

''I am of the firm opinion that it is a malafide process by your investigating agency at the behest of your political bosses to intimidate me and thereby prevent me from making such press conference in future against the current government,'' Kharge said.

He wondered why the CID ignored the contents of his earlier reply and issued the notice afresh ''without in any manner referring to what I have already stated in my reply''.

The Congress MLA stated that Minister for Animal Husbandry Prabhu B Chavan had written to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on February 3 alleging irregularities in the examinations conducted for the post of police sub-inspectors.

He also claimed that on March 15, MLC S V Sankanur too had written to the Chief Minister underlining irregularities in the examinations conducted for the post of police sub-inspectors.

''On March 10, when the issue of alleged irregularities as regards the examinations conducted for the post of Police Sub-Inspectors was raised before the Assembly, the Home Minister had made a statement on the floor of the Assembly stating that no irregularities have occurred in examinations.'' ''However, despite the said statement, it is now a fact that there has indeed been a scam which has brought to limelight various politicians and police officers for wrong reasons,” Kharge pointed out.

The government has annulled the PSI recruitment exam after large-scale irregularities came to the fore.

Over 35 people including a BJP leader Divya Hagargi, the principal of a college in Kalaburagi, a few police officers, and the gunman of a Congress MLA have been arrested in connection with the case.

The exam was conducted in October last year to fill up 545 posts and over 54,000 people had written it. It is alleged that Rs 75 lakh was collected from a few candidates by middlemen.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)