On Wednesday (23rd September), the ruling Congress government in Karnataka transferred IPS officer Kushal Chouksey, who was part of the Specal Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruitment scam.
The order stated, “Sri Kushal Chouksey, IPS (KN 2018), Deputy Commissioner of Police, Administration, Bengaluru is transferred with immediate effect and posted until further orders as Superintendent of Police, Chitradurga vice Sri Ranjit Kumar Bandaru, IPS transferred.”
Two days earlier on Monday (21st September), the Karnataka High Court ordered a 5-member SIT led by DGP Ashok Kumar to probe irregularities in the recruitment of veterinary doctors. Other members of the SIT included SP Kushal Chouksey, Forensic Science Laboratory director Divya Gopinath, DCPs Anup Shetty and Shama Mishra.
The High Court had ordered the SIT to submit progress report every 30 days and a report within 100 days of investigation. Recently, the Chairman of KPSC Shivashankarappa S Sahukar was suspended for facilitating the illegal appointment of of his 2 daughters as Industrial Extension Officers.
He has been on the run from the law enforcement authorities. The police have so far arrested the KPSC registrar Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar and a middleman named Basavaraj Kannale.
How the ruling Congress party ignored red flags and shielded Sahukar
Complaints and internal warnings against KPSC Chairman Sahukar had been piling up ever since the Congress party assumed power in Karnataka in the year 2023. Whistleblower bureaucrats and administrative officers flagged systemic corruption, arbitrary file withholding, and blatant departures from recruitment rules, yet the ruling Congress government consistently ignored these red flags and shielded the embattled chairman.
When the Congress party came to power, and Siddaramaiah took charge as chief minister in May 2023, Sahukar quickly engaged in a fierce power struggle with Vikas Suralkar, an IAS officer who had served as KPSC secretary since July 2022. Suralkar had initiated transparency measures, including official social media accounts and more recruitment details on the website.
A KPSC official who witnessed the standoff noted, “The chairman and his supporters among the members strongly resisted these measures. Things came to a head in 2023 when Sahukar started withholding approval on files and bypassing the secretary in holding meetings.”
After Sahukar complained against the secretary, Suralkar submitted a report flagging systemic loopholes, warning that “departures from the rules” had resulted in “misuse of authority by the Chairperson and injustice to meritorious candidates.”
The Congress government removed Suralkar as KPSC secretary the very next day. His successor, IAS officer Latha Kumari, faced similar resistance when she refused to approve a controversial legal cell appointment in December 2023.
Sahukar and other members boycotted meetings and stalled over 2,000 government jobs. When Kumari wrote to the Governor seeking action against Sahukar for “misuse of authority,” she wrote that officials worked under pressure and fear, hesitant to flag proposals they considered legally impermissible.
Instead of backing the bureaucrat, sources revealed Kumari was told during a meeting with a top Karnataka official on 6th February, 2024, to either withdraw her letter or go on leave. She was placed on “paid leave” the next day, and the KPSC swiftly approved Sahukar’s preferred candidate.
