Karnataka job ‘scam’: ED places IAS officer who ‘leaked’ exam paper, middleman under arrest

The IAS officer was arrested on September 18 night in prison and the middleman a day earlier, sources said.

According to the CID investigation, 11 of 329 aspirants had allegedly paid between Rs 35 lakh to Rs 80 lakh to Kannale to be recruited through the KPSC for the 400 vacancies for veterinary doctors posts in the state government. Around Rs 52 lakh funds collected from aspirants by the middleman were funneled for purchasing gold and diamond jewellery by Gangwar, a 2016-batch IAS officer, at a prominent jewellery showroom, according to the CID probe.

Last month, the ED conducted searches under the PMLA in 21 premises in Bengaluru, Hassan, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Raichur, Karwar, Kalaburagi, and Belagavi, as well as in Ahmedabad.

The CID probe has found that Gangwar allegedly leaked the exam questions to the middleman. Kannale brought the KPSC candidates who paid him to Orchid Resort in Devanahalli in hired cabs the night before the exam, coached them, and took them to the test centres the next day, the probe found. Papers allegedly leaked by the KPSC exam controller were shared in both handwritten and printed form through encrypted channels, investigators said. The exams were held on January 8 and 9 this year.

The opposition BJP in Karnataka has accused the ruling Congress of shielding the IAS officer from the ED probe.

Suspended KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar — already facing a separate case over his daughter’s alleged illegal recruitment — is also being investigated over suspected links to Kannale. The CID has not arrested him citing his cooperation with the probe.