KPSC scam: Accused member seeks protection from arrest ahead of SIT probe

B V Geetha, a member of the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) considered a key player in the alleged corruption in the recruitment examinations, has sought protection from arrest, ahead of a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Karnataka High Court.

The SIT was constituted by the High Court on November 3.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had arrested Geetha on October 6 along with the suspended KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar, for allegedly laundering money collected from nine aspirants for the veterinary doctors exam in exchange for leaking answer keys. Geetha is currently in judicial custody.

The examinations were held on January 8 and 9 to recruit veterinary doctors to state services.

The move to seek protection from arrest comes even as the verdict in a regular plea for bail in the ED case is set to be pronounced by the court on Wednesday, November 11. Geetha has cited her status as a woman, a grandmother, and ill health for grant of bail in the ED case.

She has sought anticipatory bail in the police case handed to the SIT.

Geetha is accused by the ED of giving answer keys for the veterinary exams to nine candidates in connivance with Shivashankarappa and former KPSC exam controller Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, an IAS officer.

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She is specifically accused of receiving an advance of Rs 20 lakh from the first-rank winner, as part of a Rs 40 lakh deal to provide the answer keys to the aspirant after it was obtained from the exam controller.

The ED has alleged that “she played an active role in the larger conspiracy related to the leaking of the answer keys” for the veterinary officers selection exam.

The criminal investigation in the veterinary officers recruitment case, being conducted by the CID unit of the Karnataka police, is yet to unravel the role of Geetha and Sahukar in the veterinarians’ recruitment fraud.

The CID unit had arrested Gangwar and a middleman, Basavaraj Kannale, in connection with the leakage of questions and answers for the KPSC selection exam to 11 aspirants for prices ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.

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With the investigation of the criminal case now handed to a Special Investigation Team of the Karnataka Police headed by an ADGP-rank officer, and the ED already unraveling parts of the conspiracy, the SIT is expected to look at evidence of the role played by Geetha and Sahukar, leading to a possible requirement of custodial interrogation.

The criminal case is also likely to see the invoking of the Prevention of Corruption Act against public servants accused of receiving bribes for leaking KPSC questions and answers for the entrance exam held to recruit veterinary doctors for 400 vacancies in the state.

Sahukar and Geetha are accused by the ED of obtaining the answer keys for 80 questions prepared for the exam in Bengaluru from Gangwar on the eve of the exam, on January 8.

The ED has told the court that Sahukar and Geetha gave access to answer keys to six candidates – the first-rank winner, the third-rank winner, eighth, ninth, 11th and 12th rank winners — in the entrance exam.

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A probe has found that Geetha gave the names of six aspirants to the Gangwar, and the IAS officer in turn looked at the seating arrangement for the six candidates in the exam hall on the eve of the exam on January 8 and then provided the answer keys for the specific set of question papers they would receive on the exam day.

Advocates for Sahukar and B V Geetha have argued that the ED did not find any evidence of monetary transactions with the candidates other than the statements of the parents of some of the candidates and some of the candidates themselves.