Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government on Wednesday terminated the Tier-I empanelment of Silicon Tech Lab Pvt Ltd, a Bhubaneswar-based IT company, amid ongoing investigations into the Odisha Police Sub-Inspector (SI) recruitment scam. The decision comes just weeks after the Crime Branch arrested the firm’s owner, Suresh Nayak, for allegedly manipulating the SI recruitment examination.
Silicon Tech Lab had been placed in the Tier-I category under the E&IT Department in September 2023. However, officials said the company violated several provisions of its Service Agreement with the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC), prompting the state to revoke its empanelment.
The SI recruitment examination was originally assigned to ITI Limited, a central public sector enterprise headquartered in Kolkata. ITI Limited had subcontracted the work to Silicon Tech Lab, which in turn outsourced crucial tasks to another Bhubaneswar-based firm, Panchsoft Technologies.
Earlier, the Crime Branch had arrested Panchsoft owner Shankar Prusty near the Nepal border in Uttarakhand. Investigators believe both Nayak and Prusty played central roles in leaking the question paper and are suspected of collecting between ₹20 lakh and ₹25 lakh from each of the 114 arrested aspirants.
Following the state government’s recommendation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has now taken over the case. A DSP-rank officer has been appointed as the Investigating Officer, and a specialised team has been constituted to carry out a detailed probe.
