NEW DELHI/BENGALURU, 14 APRIL

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has written to the Karnataka Governor and the Lokayukta seeking registration of an FIR and independent probe into "systematic rigging" of a 2023 recruitment process in the Kolar-Chikkaballapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (KOMUL) led by a Congress MLA under investigation in a money laundering case.

Official sources told PTI that the alleged 'cash-for-jobs' racket was unearthed by the federal agency during searches conducted by it in January against KY Nanjegowda, a Congress MLA from Malur seat in Kolar district, and his associates.

They were raided as part of a money laundering investigation into an alleged illegal allotment of government land worth Rs 150 crore to ineligible persons. The alleged recruitment scam pertains to September, 2023 when KOMUL announced hiring for 81 positions through a written test conducted by the Mangalore University.

The recruitment process, as per ED, comprised a written test (85 per cent weightage) followed by an interview (15 per cent weightage) by a recruitment committee that was headed by KOMUL Chairman Nanjegowda, a director of the KOMUL board KN Nagaraj, Additional registrar from the cooperative department Lingaraju, a representative of the Karnataka milk federation BP Raju and KOMUL MD Gopala Murthy.

According to ED, 320 candidates were chosen for interview in December, 2023 and a final list of 75 selected candidates was approved by the KOMUL board. These candidates were later sent for training "without" publishing the results.

The agency, as per official records, has shared "evidence" seized by it like "tampered" OMR sheets, loose sheets containing names of the candidates and money collected from them, "referrals" received from politicians for the selection of their favoured candidates and digital data containing phone calls and WhatsApp chats that was seized during raids at the University and the directors of KOMUL.

The Governor is understood to have written to the state authorities for a probe into these findings and allegations made by ED. The investigation, ED claimed, has unearthed "systematic rigging" of the entire recruitment process at KOMUL and Nanjegowda has emerged as the "central figure" in this "illicit cash-for-jobs" case.

The agency, after the January searches against the Congress MLA, had issued an official statement claiming it unearthed a "scam" in a recruitment exercise of the KOMUL. "It was noticed that the recruitment committee of KOMUL chaired by KY Nanjegowda and four other members completely manipulated the interview process," the agency had said.

It claimed in its report that the VC of the Mangalore University "acknowledged" the "gross misconduct" done by the registrar (evaluation) in "manipulating" this KOMUL recruitment process as he (VC) wrote to state government authorities urging them to take cognisance of these irregularities. It claimed that the interview process was "manipulated". PTI