BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the much-debated scam in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC). The SIT is led by senior IPS officer Alok Kumar, DGP, Prisons and Correctional Services, with IPS officers Divya V Gopinath, Anup A Shetty, Kushal Chouksey and Kshama Mishra as members.
The court directed the State government to issue a notification declaring the SIT constituted to be a police station for the purpose of investigation. No officer or authority shall interfere with, impede or influence investigation entrusted to the SIT, the court ordered. Justice M Nagaprasanna pronounced the order which was reserved after hearing the petition filed by MLA Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) and All Karnataka State Students’ Association seeking that the KPSC scam probe be handed over to the CBI.
The court said the SIT shall undertake a “de novo” investigation into allegations on the recruitment of veterinary officers, which is being probed by the CID, and another crime before Vidhana Soudha police into irregularities in relation to the recruitment of suspended KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar’s daughter, and matters arising in the course of investigation.
The investigation shall not be confined or shackled by the persons named, the allegations made or contours perceived. If the evidence gathered during investigation reveals involvement of any other person, offence, transaction or act, having a nexus with the investigation, the SIT shall follow the evidence wherever it leads, in accordance with law, the court added.
The court said it is in public domain that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has also registered the ECIR pursuant to two predicate offences and are investigating the matter into, of offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2022. SIT shall also extend cooperation to the ED or receive information from it, the court said.
The court noted that thousands of young men and women spend the most productive years of their lives preparing for competitive examinations, often amid economic and personal sacrifice. When a post is sold, an OMR sheet is tampered with, marks are manipulated or selection is engineered, merit is not merely defeated, it is betrayed.
Such betrayal breeds cynicism among the young and creates the dangerous perception that constitutional avenues themselves are available for purchase. A recruitment scam in a Public Service Commission in particular is not merely a theft of post; it is a theft of equality of opportunity, the court said.
According to the order, the SIT shall complete the investigation and place its final report before the court within 100 days. However, the progress of investigation shall be placed before the court once every 30 days.
The CID, which is conducting investigation from September 8, 2026, shall hand over to the SIT the entire records, papers, documents, material, electronic evidence and all other evidence collected during investigation till date, within one week. Likewise, the jurisdictional police investigating the crime in Sahukar’s daughter’s case shall hand over records to the SIT. Both CID and the police shall stop further investigation, except assisting the SIT.
