BENGALURU: The ongoing probe into the alleged job for cash scam at Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) took an interesting turn on Wednesday when Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special court that arrested former KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar and member-BV Geeta had sold answer scripts to at least six candidates of veterinary exams held in this January after taking lakhs of rupees from them.The two were arrested on Tuesday night by the ED in connection to the racket where at least 29 candidates, who had paid money-between Rs 40 lakhs to Rs 80 lakhs, were provided with the question paper and the answer scripts one day prior to the exams held in this Jan.Special judge Manjunath Sangreshi on Wednesday handed the two to 14-day-police custody and ED sleuths shifted the two to their Jalahalli office for further questioning.The revelations were made by special public prosecutors Madhu N Rao and DM Maheshwari stating ED has documents to say that Sahukar and Geeta had sold the questions papers to Dr Nandeesh B, Dr Sooguresh Jaka, Dr Kiran Kumar, Dr Tejas S S, Dr Vinuta Mallappa Hittalamani and Dr Naveen Kumar N.“When enquired about the leakage of correct answer keys to the above-mentioned candidates, prime accused Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar has admitted that the answer key to Dr Vinuta and Dr Nandeesh were leaked by him through BV Geetha, a few days before to the said exam,” Madhu Rao told the courtRao added, “Further, he has deposed that BV Geetha provided him with the roll numbers of six candidates for the veterinary officer post and requested their respective answer keys. Since he is in possession of the jumbled chart and the candidates’ seating arrangement, he supplied the correct answer keys to her.”He has also identified the list of the candidates to whom the answer keys were provided from the list of final selection of the Veterinary Officers’ list,” Rao said.Rao added that further, when enquired about any other modus operandi by which candidates were illegally selected or bribes were collected, Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar said that, at the time of preparation of the 1:3 merit list, several members and officials of the KPSC approached him to ascertain the merit of certain candidates before publication of the merit list.“He further stated that, if the merit position of any such candidate was found to be favourable, the concerned members or officials would demand hefty bribes from the candidate, claiming that their efforts had facilitated the candidate’s final selection,” Rao argued adding that “Most of the 29 candidates, named in the FIR were asked to pay anywhere between Rs 40 lakhs to Rs 80 lakhs.”
Produced in midst of armed police
A posse of six armed perssonel including two women from central police force accompanied Sahukar and Geeta when they arrived at the court.Two of the armed personnel entered the courtroom, guarding Sahukar and Geeta while remaing waited outside. Four of them were armed with self-loading -rifle.
Shock on their face, Sahukar and Geeta sat in witness box for over two hours
The argument ran over for two hours before special Judge Manjunath Sangreshi announced the decision around 5.30pm.Around 3pm, special public prosecutors argued for over one hour. Sahukar’s counsel told the court that his client is a senior citizen (61-years) and has health issues.“Criminal Investigation Department is probing the same case. They have never revealed Sahukar’s name in their investigations, nor is there any record to show that he has received money. We are ready to cooperate whenever ED needs,” counsel added.Similarly, Geeta’s counsel told the court that ED never provided sufficient records to explain the grounds of arrest.“Other than the allegations my client had sold the answer scripts to the candidates, ED dont have any evidences against her. There is no need to hand her over to police custody,” the counsel argued.
Cash depoist slips in Geeta and her daughter’s name
Further, ED argued that they had recovered many cash deposit slips when they raided Sahukar’s office and home. “Some of them show that cash deposits were made in the names of Geeta and her daughter…what is going on here?”However, Geeta’s counsel contended that Sahukar lives in a flat owned by Geeta and pays a monthly rent of Rs 75,000.“Sahukar and Geeta are family friends and they help each other in different ways, including financial support towards children’s education,” counsel argued.
