PSI job scam: Accused ​​​Manjunath Melkundi surrenders in Kalaburagi

KALABURAGI: An assistant engineer in the irrigation department, who is accused of being involved in the police sub-inspectors’ recruitment scam, voluntarily surrendered before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Kalaburagi on Sunday.
Manjunath Melkundi came in an auto to the CID office at Aiwan-E-Shahi guesthouse and gave himself up to the special branch of the police which is investigating the scam.A court had issued an arrest warrant for Melkundi a few days ago.
Prior to entering the CID office, Melkundi insisted that he is innocent, and told reporters that he was ill and recuperating in Mangaluru. He claimed he is “unaware” of the case, that he is “not involved in the scam” and surrendered “only because his name was dragged into the case”. Melkundi’s surrender comes hot on the heels of CID sleuths nabbing Divya Hagaragi, the main accused in Pune, Maharashtra on Friday. Hagaragi, a BJP functionary, had been on the run for 18 days.
So far, including Melkundi, police have arrested 17 people in connection with the scam, while Amrut Paul, additional director general of police, under whose watch the scam took place, was transferred out of the recruitment wing. The written exam to fill 545 PSI posts was held in October last year and a total 54,289 candidates had taken the test.