Jawed Shamim, DC (DD), said ASI Nandakumar Pal was arrested from his office at KP heaquarters at Lalbazar on Monday where he was the nodal officer for recruitment with the Central Reserve Office.

Shamim said Pal was responsible for ensuring that authentic candidates are allowed to take the physical part of the recruitment exam.

“Our preliminary investigation has revealed that Pal had intentionally allowed fake candidates to appear for the exam. Based on this, we have arrested him. We expect to get further leads after questioning him,” said Shamim.

With Pal’s arrest, the number of arrests in connection with the scam has gone up to nine.

Scam kingpins Gopal Das and Bappa, both dismissed constables, were running the racket with the help of a digital studio owner. Both are still absconding.

Shamim added that Pal had been working as a recruitment officer for the past five years at the CRO on deputation, and is actually posted with the Detective Department.

“He was in charge of checking the identities of recruits at the Police Training School. During interrogation it was found that he had allowed impersonators to appear in exchange for money. He had no immediate superiors to monitor his work at the CRO and probably used that to his advantage,” he further said.

Following his arrest, suspension orders will be served on Pal after 72 hours, as per the norms.

“Any connection with Das and Bappa would have to be established through further interrogation. Even after the scam broke, he was attending office as usual and did not make any attempts to flee,” Shamim added.