Question papers handed out in resorts: What Karnataka vet recruitment probe found

“In Bengaluru, the candidates who made payments were kept at a resort near Devanahalli (on the outskirts of the city),” a source said. The aspirants who received the question papers in advance were also trained by middlemen to answer the OMR sheet and were dropped off at the exam centres on the day of the entrance tests, sources added.

Exam-day communication under scanner

The investigation allegedly found a flurry of communication via the internet on the day of the entrance exams between Gangwar and Shivashankarappa, whose relative scored 456.75 marks in the entrance and is alleged to be one of the 29 beneficiaries of the leaked question papers, sources said.

“On the day of the examination, many things have happened,” state Public Prosecutor B N Jagadeesh told the Karnataka High Court on Thursday after providing the high court a glimpse of evidence suggesting Shivashankarappa’s involvement in the alleged fraud.

Gangwar, who was arrested on August 29 based on evidence of his frequent communication with Kannale and suspended on Thursday, has been tight-lipped during the investigation, sources said. He had disappeared for over a week amid Enforcement Directorate searches linked to the veterinarians’ exam fraud but resurfaced on August 27.

“The exam controller is all powerful when it comes to conducting the KPSC exams. He gets a few versions of the question papers to be set and then decides on the questions that will be finally provided for the exams,” a source said.

The modus of leaking the questions just before the exam was adopted as other methods of fraud could be detected through forensics, sources said. The CID is also awaiting forensic reports for 758 OMR sheets—329 originals and 329 candidate copies—to determine if more than one mode of cheating was adopted for the exams.

Money trail to key middleman being probed

The CID is also looking at the money trail of candidates suspected of paying Kannale to access the question papers. Investigators are reportedly examining funds transferred through his intermediaries. “The CID is looking at bank details at several co-operative banks in Bidar which are suspected to have received the payment deposits,” a source said.

Kannale was previously a personal aide to former BJP minister and Bengaluru MLA Dr C N Ashwathnarayan. He rose from humble beginnings in Dongapur village in Bidar to a prospective aspirant for the BJP ticket for the Bhalki Assembly constituency.

Kannale reportedly built ties with Gangwar when the IAS officer was posted as the Bidar CEO in 2019. This association continued when Gangwar was posted as the KPSC exams controller in February 2024—a post he held until March 2026.

In recent years, Kannale has started multiple businesses, including a dairy farm, a travel agency, and a real estate project, apart from building a plush new home in Bhalki in Bidar. He also conducted campaigns in Bhalki, projecting himself as a future BJP Assembly candidate. Local BJP leaders in Bidar, like former Union minister Bhagwanth Khuba, however, claimed that he was not a party worker.

Kannale was arrested at the New Delhi airport on August 30 while allegedly trying to flee to Uzbekistan.

Searches indicate deeper rot in KPSC exams

The CID searches at properties linked to Kannale unearthed a few OMR sheets and admit cards for a KPSC exam held in 2025 to recruit 384 gazetted probationers for the Karnataka Administrative Services, indicating a deeper rot, sources said.

Over 2 lakh aspirants wrote the preliminary exam in 2024 for the gazetted probationers recruitment through the KPSC, where the chairman has a direct role in the selection process at the interview stage.

Shivashankarappa, who was suspended over his daughter’s recruitment to the post of industrial extension officer with a fake income certificate through the KPSC, was appointed in 2021 during the BJP government’s tenure in Karnataka.

Shivashankarappa has sought anticipatory bail from the Karnataka High Court in the veterinarians recruitment fraud case after a sessions court rejected his plea on August 11. The CID has summoned him again this week over his alleged links to the fraud.

A sessions court on August 22 also denied anticipatory bail to an alleged relative of Shivashankarappa, Sooguresh Jaka, 25, who hails from the same region in the Raichur district as the suspended KPSC chairman. Jaka scored 456.75 in the veterinary doctors’ entrance exam and allegedly benefited from the fraud.