Overview
- The Enforcement Directorate carried out search-and-seizure operations at 21 premises on Tuesday, targeting sites in Bengaluru, several Karnataka districts and Ahmedabad as part of a PMLA money‑laundering probe.
- Places searched included the KPSC office, the residence of suspended chairman Shivashankarappa S. Sahukar, KPSC member Shanta Hosmani, the Edutest Solutions office that handled digital evaluation, alleged middlemen and some selected candidates.
- ED officials said the agency invoked Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to examine financial transactions and collect documentary and digital evidence, including audio recordings supplied by a complainant.
- The criminal complaints and FIRs that prompted the action accuse middlemen of demanding roughly Rs 70–80 lakh per seat and allege question‑paper leaks, OMR tampering and manipulation of evaluations to favour relatives of officials.
- The searches add a federal financial probe to ongoing state CID inquiries and High Court petitions, and they could lead to prosecutions, a review of the 400‑post selection list and tighter controls on digital exam evaluation.