Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has cleared the way for a criminal trial of a senior IAS officer in the Karnataka Public Service Commission paper leak case, sanctioning his prosecution under Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, the provision that makes state approval mandatory when a public officer is implicated.
Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, a 2016-batch officer, is in judicial custody. He was KPSC controller of examinations from January 2024 to March 2026, and is accused of leaking the question paper for the competitive examination held on January 8 and 9 to recruit veterinary officers.
Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar announced the sanction, saying the government would neither tolerate corruption nor shield the guilty.
The Criminal Investigation Department, which sought the sanction, has alleged that Gangwar received ₹1.30 crore out of ₹1.52 crore collected from candidates. Its findings rest partly on the interrogation of middleman Basavaraj Kannale, described as a close associate of the officer. Around 20 candidates allegedly paid between ₹20 lakh and ₹40 lakh each for the leaked paper. Some were reportedly taken to a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru to memorise answers before the examination.
The Enforcement Directorate is running a parallel money-laundering probe into the same transactions.
The sanction is a procedural step, not a finding of guilt. It removes the legal shield that a serving or former public officer would otherwise have, and allows the CID to file a chargesheet and begin trial. Until a court rules, Gangwar remains an accused.
For a state government that has been under attack over recruitment irregularities, the timing matters. The KPSC leak has already cost the commission's credibility with aspirants who spent years preparing for a handful of posts, and the case now moves from an investigation file to a courtroom, where the money trail and the call records will have to survive cross-examination.