Bengaluru, Dec 3 (IANS): The Karnataka government has granted persmission to prosecute arrested ADGP Amrit Paul in connection with the PSI recruitment scandal, sources said on Saturday.

Since the accused is an IPS officer, the government's consent was neccesary to initiate legal proceedings. The ruling BJP, which is under attack by the opposition Congress in connection with the recruitment scam, accorded its consent.

The CID had submitted a 1,406-page charge-sheet against the jailed IPS officer. Amrit Paul is the first senior ADGP level officer to be arrested in connection with the PSI scandal that rocked the state and made national news.

The charge-sheet had been submitted before the First ACMM court in Bengaluru. Accused Amrit Paul is being made the 35th accused in the scandal. CID investigation officer DySP B.K. Shekar had submitted 78 records, 38 witnesses against Amrit Paul explaining his role in the scandal, conspiracy to carry out the scandal, and collection of money from aspirants of posts of sub-inspectors.

Investigations have revealed that Paul, who had allegedly received a cut of Rs 1.35 crore from candidates to PSI posts, had given away the money to his aide and benami Shambhulinga Swamy. The CID had seized Rs 41 lakh from him.

Paul, who worked as ADGP of Recruitment department, had allegedly allowed his junior DySP Shanthakumar and team to commit scandal in recruitment of 545 posts of PSI. The officers attached to the Recruitment Division Sunitha Bai, RPI Manjunath and guards have recorded their statements confirming his role, the sources said.

However, Paul is maintaining that the scandal had taken place without his knowledge and he had not received any money.

Notably, the opposition Congress had demanded Home Minister Araga Jnanendra's resignation in connection with the scandal after it came to light.