The Supreme Court on Tuesday modified the Karnataka High Court’s order directing a fresh investigation into two alleged recruitment scams involving the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC). The court allowed the state government to propose changes to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and authorised the Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) to nominate its head.
A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi also modified the High Court’s September 21 direction requiring the SIT to conduct a de novo investigation. The matter has been sent back to the High Court for further consideration.
The Supreme Court directed that the SIT be constituted within 10 days, following which the Karnataka High Court will examine its composition.
Under the modified arrangement, the state DGP will nominate an officer not below the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) to head the investigation team. The state government has also been permitted to suggest replacements for two SIT members.
State Government’s Objections to SIT Formation
The Karnataka government had challenged the High Court’s decision to constitute an SIT without consulting the state authorities, particularly when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was already investigating both cases.
The government opposed the appointment of DGP-rank officer Alok Kumar as SIT chief, referring to previous investigations against him. It also raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest involving SIT member Dr Divya Gopinath, who heads the state forensic science laboratory.
The other officers named in the SIT were Anup A Shetty, Kushal Chouksey and Kshama Mishra.
The state further maintained that a fresh investigation was unnecessary because the CID had made progress, including arrests, and its investigation was approaching completion.
On October 1, the Supreme Court had stayed the High Court’s September 21 order. While granting interim relief, the court recorded the state’s objection that the High Court had ordered an investigation from the beginning despite the absence of allegations of mala fide against the existing investigating agency.
Two Recruitment Cases Under Investigation
The proceedings concern alleged irregularities in two separate recruitment exercises linked to the KPSC.
The first involves the recruitment of veterinary doctors against 400 vacancies. Suspended KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar is among the accused in the case.
The second concerns the appointment of Sahukar’s daughter as an industrial extension officer in Karnataka’s industries and commerce department.
She is accused of using a fabricated income certificate that allegedly showed her family’s annual income as Rs 40,000, enabling her to obtain the position under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation category.
The Karnataka High Court had earlier declined to transfer the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or allow the CID to continue handling the cases. Instead, it ordered an SIT investigation.
The All Karnataka Students Association, which had sought a CBI investigation before the High Court, subsequently argued before the Supreme Court that the CID had failed to arrest Sahukar and other KPSC members.
CID and ED Arrests in Recruitment Scam
The Congress-led Karnataka government transferred both cases to the CID in late July.
During its investigation into the veterinary doctors’ recruitment case, the CID arrested 41-year-old IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, a former KPSC examination controller.
Gangwar is accused of supplying examination questions to approximately 20 candidates through middleman Basavaraj Kannale, who has links to the BJP.
The allegations relate to the veterinary doctors’ recruitment examination conducted on January 9, 2026.
In a separate development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested suspended KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar and commission member B V Geetha on October 6.
The two are accused of leaking answer keys to six candidates appearing in the veterinary doctors’ examination in exchange for bribes.
With the Supreme Court modifying the earlier directions, the reconstituted SIT will now be placed before the Karnataka High Court for consideration after its formation within the prescribed 10-day period.
