Karnataka grants statewide police powers to SIT probing KPSC recruitment scam

The Karnataka government designated the KPSC recruitment scam SIT as a police station. The notification enables statewide investigation, CID record transfers and court filings.Stock photo used for illustrationBengaluru,Oct 30, 2026 20:24 ISTThe Karnataka government on Friday declared the Special Investigation Team probing the alleged Karnataka Public Service Commission recruitment scam a police station with jurisdiction across the state, news agency Press Trust of India reported.The move will allow the SIT to investigate two cases involving the appointment of sacked KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar's daughters as industrial officers and alleged large-scale irregularities in the recruitment of veterinary doctors.The notification followed an October 28 direction from the Karnataka High Court asking the state government to make the SIT operational and facilitate the transfer of investigation records from the Criminal Investigation Department.“The Special Investigation Team (SIT) ... is hereby declared a Police Station under Section 2(1)(u) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, with jurisdiction extending to the entire State of Karnataka,” the government order said. The SIT was formed following the High Court's September 21 directions to investigate cases registered at Bengaluru's Vidhana Soudha Police Station.On October 28, Justice M Nagaprasanna had criticised the government for failing to make the SIT operational despite the Supreme Court upholding the decision to have a special team investigate the alleged recruitment scam. Justice Nagaprasanna had said there was nothing preventing the government from notifying the SIT as a police station so that the CID could transfer the records to it.“In these cases, you should not show a lackadaisical attitude. You should do it fast,” the judge had told Advocate General K Shashi Kiran Shetty.The October 30 government order also authorises the investigating officers appointed to the SIT to submit police reports before the competent courts under Section 193 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.“The said Special Investigation Team shall investigate the above-mentioned cases and submit its final investigation report to the competent court,” the order said.The High Court had directed the government to provide the petitioners with the proposed names of two replacement SIT members and gave them two days to file objections. The composition of the team was to be considered at the next hearing.The alleged KPSC recruitment scam has led to the arrests of sacked KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar, commission member B V Geetha, former examination controller Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar and alleged middleman Basavaraj Kannale, according to PTI. The Enforcement Directorate is also investigating the case.With the SIT now designated as a police station, it has been authorised to investigate the cases across Karnataka, receive records from the CID and submit its final report to the competent court.- Ends