A special court in Bengaluru on Wednesday remanded suspended Karnataka Public Service Commission chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar and commission member B V Geetha to Enforcement Directorate custody until October 19 in a money laundering investigation into alleged manipulation of the recruitment of 400 veterinary officers.
Their arrests bring to four the number of people taken into custody by the ED in the case. The police have also registered a separate FIR against Sahukar’s daughter, Suma S Sahukar, alleging that she submitted a false income certificate while applying for a government job under the 3B reservation category. “They were produced before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court at 3 pm on Wednesday. The court granted the ED the full 14 days of custody sought by the agency after hearing arguments from both sides,” said an official in the know.
The agency had earlier arrested former KPSC Controller of Examinations and IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar and alleged middleman Basavaraj Kannale. Sahukar had earlier been questioned by the CID. The two were arrested on Tuesday after fresh searches at their premises.
The agency has said 13 KPSC recruitment exercises conducted during Gangwar’s tenure from 2024 to 2026 may require investigation. The investigation has since expanded beyond allegations of a leaked question paper. The veterinary recruitment case emerged after allegations that candidates had paid middlemen to secure selection. The CID is investigating the recruitment separately, while proceedings concerning a Karnataka High Court order for a special investigation team have also reached the Supreme Court.
The ED has told the court that its questioning of Gangwar has pointed to a system in which confidential candidate performance data from KPSC merit lists could be used to identify candidates and negotiate bribes.
