BENGALURU: IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) late on Saturday night in connection with irregularities in the veterinary examination conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).The arrest came after the CID found incriminating documents related to the question paper of the examination held to recruit veterinarians for 400 posts.Superintendent of Police Raghavendra K Hegde and his team questioned the IAS officer for more than 20 hours on Friday and Saturday before arresting him.Gyanendra was questioned in detail about the irregularities based on the primary evidence collected in the case. However, he allegedly did not cooperate with the investigation and gave contradictory answers during the two days of questioning.As he was not cooperating, he was arrested and produced before a magistrate at the magistrate’s residence in Koramangala on Sunday afternoon. CID officials sought his police custody. The judge remanded him in judicial custody for one day and directed the CID sleuths to produce him in open court on Monday and seek his police custody.A senior officer said, “Gyanendra was produced around 4 pm. After the order, he was sent to Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara. We will approach the court for his custody on Monday.”CID sleuths had issued a notice to Gyanendra asking him to appear before the investigating officer after taking over the cases registered at Vidhana Soudha police station.On August 23, Directorate of Enforcement (ED) officials conducted a raid at his house in Jayamahal Extension.A senior officer said, “We are yet to question or collect evidence about the alleged amount received by the officer from two candidates who appeared for the examination.”The complainants who appeared for the examination alleged that the question paper was leaked to selected candidates, the OMR sheets were tampered with, and middlemen demanded Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh to help candidates pass the examination. Gyanendra was then the controller of examinations at KPSC.Gyanendra is a 2016-batch officer. Earlier, there were rumours that he was missing. However, Home Minister Priyank Kharge clarified that he had applied for leave and gone to his native place to attend to a family medical emergency.Gyanendra’s father was unwell and had been hospitalised, according to information he provided to the government. ED officials also issued a notice asking him to appear before the investigating officer, but Gyanendra responded and appeared before the CID.Gyanendra was transferred after allegations of irregularities surfaced in March. He is currently serving as Director of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Commerce and Industries Department.
