ED raids 9 locations in Odisha in probe over sub-inspector recruitment case

The Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at nine locations across the state on Friday in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the Odisha Police Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment paper leak case, an official said.

The raids targeted premises linked to key accused, including alleged middleman Muna Mohanty, PanchSoft Technologies’ Shankar Prusty, and Silicon Techlab managing director Suresh Nayak, who have been named in a charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In total, the CBI charge sheet filed in December last year named 122 individuals, including over 100 candidates.

The SI recruitment examination, scheduled for October last year, was cancelled after question papers were leaked.

The Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) had outsourced the examination process to ITI Ltd, a government-run company based in Kolkata. ITI subsequently awarded the work to Bhubaneswar-based Silicon Techlab Private Ltd, which further subcontracted it to Panchsoft Technologies Private Ltd.

According to CBI, Suresh Chandra Nayak, managing director of Silicon Techlab Private Ltd, allegedly manipulated the examination process by replacing question paper packet number 3 with packet number 5 at Saraswati Printing Press in Kolkata. The agency said Nayak visited the press on September 9, 2025, along with OPRB chairman Susanta Kumar Nath and another IPS officer, Avinash Kumar.

The police officers were led to believe that packet number 5, which contained the board-finalised master question set, had been handed over for printing.

According to CBI, Nayak contacted Pinaki Dey, who was in charge of the press’s confidential section, later that evening and claimed that packet number 3 had been submitted by mistake, asking Dey not to open it and saying it would be replaced with the correct one.

The following day, Nayak, who had allegedly made copies of the question papers, handed over the packet to Dey for printing.

According to CBI, an organised syndicate led by Mohanty and Prusty charged aspirants between ₹20 lakh and ₹25 lakh each for leaked question papers. The syndicate even booked three buses to ferry candidates to Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, where they were housed and prepped with leaked answers before the exam. Agents allegedly collected original educational certificates and signed blank cheques from candidates as security.

According to the CBI, Mohanty’s agents collected original certificates and blank cheques from aspirants as part of the alleged deals. Prusty, meanwhile, is suspected of having used his companies, Panchsoft Tech Private Limited and Kedarnath Technologies, to facilitate the manipulation of the recruitment process.

Following the leak, the Odisha government constituted the Odisha Uniformed Services Staff Selection Commission in November last year to take over recruitment for uniformed services, including the police and excise departments.

Last month, commission chairman and former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Rashmi Ranjan Swain said the commission was taking steps to expedite the SI recruitment examination.

In August this year, CBI told the Odisha government that it may question Nath, now DG of prisons, over his role in the question paper leak case. Though the state government initially empanelled his name for the post of DGP, it withdrew his integrity certificate, citing the likelihood that the CBI would question him.