New Delhi, 24 Jan

The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets of Karnataka cadre IPS officer Amrit Paul and a head constable as part of a money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in police sub-inspector (SI) recruitment in the state during 2021-22.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the federal agency said the attached properties include residential units.

An order was issued on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach Rs 1.53-crore combined assets of Paul and head Constable Sridhar H, it said.

Paul, a 1995-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was arrested by the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) in 2022 over alleged involvement in "irregularities" in the SI recruitment process. He was holding the post of Additional Director General of Police (Recruitment) at the time.

The probe pertains to Karnataka Police's recruitment exercise to fill up 545 vacancies of sub-inspectors. A provisional list of successful candidates was published, but after the tentative results were out, there were allegations of corruption and irregularities in the examination process, according to the ED.

"Paul played a pivotal role in the conspiracy by facilitating unauthorised access to the strongroom where OMR answer sheets were kept. He handed over the keys of the almirah containing the strongroom keys to Deputy SP Shanth Kumar, allowing accomplices, including Sridhar H, to tamper with the OMR sheets of undeserving candidates to ensure their selection," the ED alleged.

The accused collected "bribe" ranging from Rs 30 lakh-70 lakh per candidate, the agency said, adding that the illicit proceeds were utilised for the construction of residential properties.

The ED had earlier filed a chargesheet before a court as part of this probe.

In a separate case in Karnataka, the ED issued a provisional order on January 21 to attach a plot and two flats worth Rs 19.46 crore of the BMS Educational Trust.

The trust is accused of a "seat blocking scam" in the engineering colleges controlled by it, and alleged collection of cash funds during the admission process "over and above" the laid down fees.

"Cash was collected by the management of BMSEducational Trust from the students directly and also through agents who acted as educational consultants," the ED said, adding that this amount was not disclosed in the book of accounts of the trust.

The "unaccounted" cash generated from the sale of engineering seats has been used for personal benefits of trustees of the BMS Educational Trust, it alleged.