Key suspect in Karnataka civil service jobs scam arrested at Delhi airport

The Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) has arrested a key suspect at the New Delhi airport amid an investigation into the alleged Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) fraud. The suspect, said to be a key middleman was allegedly on his way to Uzbekistan.

The case related to recruitment of veterinary doctors for 400 vacancies in the state animal husbandry department. The CID detained Basavaraj Kannale on Sunday night and later placed him under arrest ahead of a court appearance in Bengaluru on Tuesday, police sources said.

"One of the accused was trying to flee the country yesterday. He was caught at the Delhi airport by the CID police," the state public prosecutor B N Jagadeesh told the Karnataka high court on Monday during a preliminary hearing in an anticipatory bail plea filed by the suspended KPSC chairman Sahukar S Shivashankarappa.

The middleman Kannale was allegedly part of a conspiracy in the KPSC where low scoring candidates in the veterinarians entrance exam conducted in January this year were offered recruitment for payment of a sum of Rs 80 lakh at the cost of eligible candidates.

Kannale, who hails from Bhalki in Bidar and is a syndicate member of the Tumkur University, has been linked to the BJP in Bidar and has social media pictures with BJP leaders. The BJP Bidar unit leader, former MP and union minister Bhagwanth Khuba, however, said "Basavaraj Kannale is not a BJP worker and is not associated with the party in any way".