Pramesh S Jain
Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) member Shanta Hosmani appeared before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Wednesday for questioning in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of veterinary officers.
Hosmani appeared before the CID after her application seeking anticipatory bail was rejected.CID officials had earlier issued her a notice directing her to appear for questioning.
Hosmani had reportedly been untraceable after the alleged veterinary officer recruitment scam came to light.
The CID had issued a notice to her and conducted searches in several places,including outside Karnataka, as part of efforts to trace her.
According to the allegations,Hosmani had allegedly held telephonic conversations with a candidate named Mavitha on three occasions in connection with the veterinary officer recruitment.The conversations were reportedly held before the candidate appeared for the interview.
The allegations against Hosmani are not confined to the veterinary officer recruitment case.Her name has also surfaced in connection with alleged irregularities in the Junior Engineer (JE) recruitment examination.
A sub-committee was constituted in 2023 to investigate the JE examination irregularities.Hosmani was allegedly involved in the process of announcing the selection list and had reportedly taken the lead in getting the list published through the then secretary.
However,the list was not published following objections raised by some commission members.
During the subsequent investigation, it reportedly emerged that Hosmani had been removed from the sub-committee.
ED and CID Searches:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had conducted simultaneous searches on August 18 at the residences and premises of several prominent persons,including Shanta Hosmani and former KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar,in connection with the alleged recruitment scam.
The CID also conducted searches at Hosmani’s residence in September and seized important documents as part of its investigation.
Despite the searches and efforts to trace her,Hosmani had remained unavailable to investigators.Following the rejection of her anticipatory bail plea,she appeared before the CID on Thursday for questioning.
The CID is expected to question her about her alleged communications with candidates,her role in the recruitment process and the allegations relating to the JE examination.
