New Delhi, 21 June

Candidates applying for jobs as 'mazdoor', 'dai', 'coolie' and 'chowkidar' at Belgaum Cantonment Board allegedly paid bribes to the tune of Rs 15-25 lakh, CBI has said in its FIR related to the alleged recruitment scam.

In its FIR, which was made public on Friday, the agency has booked five officials of the board and 14 candidates who allegedly paid the bribes.

CBI began its probe last year with a preliminary enquiry on the basis of a complaint from a board member alleging corruption and illegalities in the recruitment undertaken in 2022-23. The findings of the enquiry suggested that during 2022-23, 31 candidates for the post of mechanic, assistant sanitary inspector, coolie, mali, peon, dai, etc were recruited, officials said.

Officer Superintendent Mahalingeshwar Y Talukdar, Computer Programmer Basavaraj S Gudodagi, Data Entry Operator Prakash C Goundadkar, Head Master Parasharam S Birje and Assistant Teacher Uday S Patil -- who have been booked -- worked in various capacities in examination process as per orders issued by then CEO, they said.

CBI has alleged that the then CEO of the Cantonment Board Anand K (now deceased) was the controlling and appointing authority for the recruitment and was involved in setting the question paper and answer keys for the examination, they said. In conspiracy with the five officials, Anand demanded and accepted illegal gratification in the range of Rs 15-25 lakh from the aspirants to influence the selection, CBI has alleged.

The CBI enquiry findings showed that the question paper was set only in English but most of the candidates could not read and understand it. "It is alleged that eligible candidates were either rejected or not qualified as they could not pay the illegal gratification to the above-named public servants. It was alleged that many of the selected candidates are related or known to the officials of the Cantonment Board," the FIR alleged. —PTI