ED questions suspended IAS officer, middleman in KPSC recruitment scam

The Directorate of Enforcement on Friday questioned suspended IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar and alleged middleman Basavaraj Kannale in connection with the alleged scam in the recruitment of veterinary officers by the Karnataka Public Service Commission.

Both men were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department and are currently in judicial custody at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. The 51st City Civil and Sessions Court, which handles ED cases, had permitted the agency's officials to question the two in prison on Thursday.

A team of ED officials reached the prison on Friday morning and questioned the duo until 5 p.m.

The enforcement case followed an FIR registered by the Vidhana Soudha police. The ED subsequently conducted raids at the KPSC and at premises linked to Gangwar, who was the commission's Controller of Examinations when the recruitment examinations were held on August 18.

The CID, which is investigating the case, arrested Gangwar on August 30 and Kannale a day later.

In a related development, the 51st City Civil and Sessions Court on Thursday rejected an anticipatory bail application filed by KPSC member Shantha Hosamani. Appointed in 2021, she has been named a suspect in the FIR registered on August 7 over alleged corruption in the gazetted probationers' recruitment, the results of which are still awaited.

The FIR is being probed by the CID, while the ED has also named her a suspect in its own case. Hosamani is believed to have been absconding since the cases were registered, and the ED has issued a lookout notice against her. With her anticipatory bail plea rejected, both the CID and the ED are understood to have intensified efforts to trace her.