Bengaluru, July 23: While the Congress at the Centre is protesting against the NEET paper leak, the scam that surfaced in the recruitment of veterinary graduates in its ruled state of Karnataka has left it red-faced.
A video of two middlemen speaking to aspirants and asking them to pay Rs 80 lakh for securing a job after clearing the examination conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) has gone viral, pushing the already tainted government job recruitment organisation further on the back foot.
The KPSC has been in the eye of the storm for some time now. Recently, its sitting Chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar was suspended after he facilitated the recruitment of his two daughters to the post of Industrial Extension Officers by allowing them to produce fake income certificates and failing to declare a 'conflict of interest' during the recruitment process of his daughters.
Recruitment Scam Allegations Surface
Recently, the KPSC had issued a notification to recruit 400 veterinary doctors to government veterinary hospitals across the state. After the preliminary and mains examinations, interviews had to be conducted.
During the selection process, two middlemen — Rafi and Vinod — approached students who had cleared the examinations and offered them jobs in exchange for money. They demanded Rs 80 lakh per placement from the candidates, with the candidate required to pay half in advance and the remaining amount after the job was secured.
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They also offered to issue post-dated cheques for the advance amount they had received, claiming that the money would remain secure.
Candidate Blows Whistle
However, one of the candidates decided to blow the whistle and paid Rs 2 lakh before meeting the middlemen.
"They made me talk to the head of KPSC, who assured me of the placement if the deal was struck with the middlemen. When he tried to bargain, they refused to reduce even a single rupee," he said.
Later, he narrated the incident to his other friends who had appeared for the recruitment examination. They decided to share the video with the media along with proof of transferring Rs 2 lakh through UPI to the middlemen.
After the video went viral, all the veterinary doctors who had appeared for the examination approached the Vidhana Soudha Police Station and lodged a complaint regarding the alleged irregularities, urging the police to stop the process.
