ED investigates fake income certificate involving ex-official
CH NEWS, BENGALURU The financial and legal troubles surrounding the high-profile Karnataka Public Service Commission recruitment scandals have deepened significantly. The Enforcement Directorate has formally stepped into a new probe focusing on a fraudulent income certificate allegedly utilized by Suma Sahukar, the daughter of former KPSC Chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar. This development runs parallel to ongoing legal proceedings involving her father and fellow former KPSC member Geetha, who were recently remanded to judicial custody following the conclusion of an extensive period of custodial interrogation regarding earlier veterinary officer recruitment irregularities. The core of this new investigative branch centers on a controversial examination held in July 2025 for the recruitment of 50 Industrial Extension Officers within the Department of Commerce and Industries. When the official list of eligible candidates was published in February 2026, Suma Sahukar’s name prominently featured on it. Investigators discovered that she managed to secure a spot by appearing under the reserved '3B' category, having submitted an official document claiming an annual family income of a mere forty thousand rupees. However, enforcement officials quickly flagged a massive disparity between the declared poverty-level income and actual financial realities. Records inspected during the probe revealed that her father, while serving in his official capacity, drew a monthly salary of over 2,00,000 rupees starting in 2019, which later escalated past 2,25,000 rupees by 2021. Furthermore, extensive financial audits exposed that the family held substantial fixed assets that far exceeded the strict financial ceilings mandated for such reservation benefits under state regulations. Although standard category guidelines might permit eligibility for individuals with higher annual earnings, the deliberate submission of a deeply falsified low-income document has triggered severe legal repercussions. The Vidhana Soudha Police Station initially registered a formal case, which has now been completely taken over by federal investigators looking into systemic corruption. Beyond this specific incident, federal agencies are widening their net across multiple state recruitment drives managed from 2022 onward. As investigators comb through financial records, property holdings, and recruitment files, the growing scandal threatens to expose a wider web of administrative manipulation within the state public service commission.
