(MENAFN- IANS) Bhubaneswar, Nov 13 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Bhubaneswar, has begun a probe into the multi-crore Odisha Police Sub Inspector (SI) Recruitment scam.

The case was registered on Wednesday. The central agency has entrusted the investigation of the scam to one of its senior officers of the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police.

Sources claimed that the CBI has reportedly sought all the case-related details from the Crime Branch.

Acting on the request of the Odisha government, the Union government, through a notification issued on November 11, transferred the recruitment scam case (7/25), which was being investigated by the Crime Branch of the Odisha Police, to the CBI for further investigation into the irregularities in the combined Police Service Examination (CPSE), 2024 which was scheduled to be held on October 5 and 6, 2025.

Notably, the Odisha Police had first busted the large-scale scam with the arrest of 114 aspirants and three middlemen following the interception of three buses in Andhra Pradesh on the night of September 29.

Subsequently, the Odisha Crime Branch took over the investigation of the case (447/2), originally registered at the Golanthara Police Station in Ganjam district on September 30, by registering a separate case (7/2025) on October 1, 2025.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Odisha Police Recruitment Board (OPRB) had entrusted the conduct of the Combined Police Service Examination (CPSE)-2024 for SI recruitment to ITI Limited, which later sublet the work to M/s Silicon Tech Pvt. Ltd.

The private agency, in turn, engaged Panchsoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd., located at Patia in Bhubaneswar, where the alleged mastermind of the entire scam, Sankar Prusty, was a director, to handle key stages of the examination process.

The Odisha Police have so far arrested 126 people, including the prime accused Prusty, his other associates such as Muna Mohanty, Srikanta Maharana alias Rinku, Arabinda Das, etc.

Meanwhile, during the investigation, suspicion arose that the roots of the corruption may extend beyond Odisha to other states, including Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. There were also indications of the involvement of an inter-state organised criminal gang in the case. Subsequently, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi recommended a CBI probe into the matter to the Centre. Acting upon the Chief Minister's request, the Centre directed a CBI investigation into the case.

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