BENGALURU: A special court on Wednesday remanded former Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar and member BV Geetha in ED custody till October 19, in connection with the alleged veterinary officers’ recruitment examination scam.
The CCH4 Special Court (Special Court for cases filed by CBI and ED, and cases under PMLA) allowed ED to question the two accused until October 19. The agency had sought the custody of Sahukar and Geetha, citing evidence of extensive manipulation of examination results, illegal collection of money from candidates and a wider recruitment racket allegedly involving more than 13 KPSC examinations since 2022.
Sahukar and Geetha were arrested from their respective residences in Sanjaynagar’s Dollars Colony on Tuesday night. The arrests were part of ED’s investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) into allegations of large-scale bribery and illegal money transfers linked to KPSC recruitments.
According to the ED, candidates were allegedly charged between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 40 lakh for question papers and answers, while selected candidates were allegedly asked to pay up to Rs 70 lakh to obtain the entire question paper in advance. The agency told the court that discrepancies in examination results pointed to manipulation.
It cited cases where highly meritorious candidates, including those who had cleared the Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination and won gold medals in graduation, scored around 350 marks, while candidates with comparatively low scores in their degree examinations allegedly secured up to 450 marks in the KPSC examination.
The ED also alleged that Sahukar had spoken over phone with certain selected candidates on January 8, 2026, a day before the veterinary officers’ examination held on January 9. Investigators have reportedly obtained details of the conversations and other evidence.
The alleged racket was reportedly operated from three villas in a gated community near Devanahalli, where answers were supplied to candidates before the examination. The candidates were also dropped to the exam centres in private vehicles. The ED is also relying on the statement of suspended IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, who was Examination Controller at KPSC and has been arrested in the case. During interrogation, he allegedly disclosed the involvement of the former chairman and a few members in the irregularities.
According to ED, Gangwar’s statement also indicated that similar malpractice had allegedly taken place in more than 13 KPSC recruitment examinations since 2022. The ED said custodial interrogation of Sahukar and Geetha was necessary to establish their roles, identify others involved in the network and trace the flow of illicit funds.