In yet another blow to the Congress party’s claims of clean governance, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties valued at Rs 1.32 crore belonging to K.Y. Nanjegowda, the sitting Congress MLA from Malur in Kolar district. The action is part of an ongoing investigation into massive irregularities in the hiring process at the Kolar-Chikkaballapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd. (KOMUL) in 2023—a scam that has now escalated into a full-blown controversy, highlighting the brazen misuse of power and betrayal of public trust.
Nanjegowda, who holds the dual responsibility of being an elected legislator and the chairman of KOMUL, now finds himself in the eye of a storm for allegedly engineering a recruitment racket that denied deserving candidates their rightful opportunity and allowed unqualified individuals to secure government-backed jobs through influence and bribes. According to the ED, the recruitment drive—consisting of a written test and an interview—was stage-managed under Nanjegowda’s watchful eye, with marks rigged and recommendations entertained in exchange for hefty payments.
The federal agency’s findings paint a grim picture of deliberate malpractice. Investigators claim that Nanjegowda, along with KOMUL Managing Director K.N. Gopala Murthy and several other board members, devised a well-organised scheme that systematically favoured those who could either pay large sums or secure recommendations from powerful politicians. By doing so, they effectively turned a public recruitment exercise into a money-minting machine. This betrayal has shattered the dreams of countless meritorious job aspirants who toiled hard, only to see seats sold to the highest bidder.
To strengthen its case, the ED stated that it has gathered crucial evidence during its searches and raids. Among the seized materials are original and doctored OMR answer sheets, WhatsApp chats showing recommendations from influential leaders, and messages forwarded by Nanjegowda himself to push certain names up the merit list. Shockingly, the agency has also pointed to procedural irregularities not only at KOMUL but also at Mangalore University, indicating that this web of deceit may extend beyond just one institution.
The depth of the alleged wrongdoing has alarmed both the investigating agency and the public. Statements recorded from KOMUL’s directors, university officials, and some of the beneficiaries themselves have revealed a brazen nexus of political interference and monetary transactions that transformed the recruitment process into a bidding competition for government jobs. The ED’s probe has unearthed that a staggering Rs 1.56 crore was collected from desperate candidates in exchange for guaranteed selection. Out of this, Nanjegowda is accused of pocketing Rs 80 lakh directly—an illegal windfall that mocks the ideals of public service and clean politics.
It is worth noting that the ED’s probe into this recruitment scam began after its January raids on Nanjegowda in a separate case involving alleged illegal allotment of government land worth over Rs 150 crore. The agency later handed over details of the KOMUL recruitment scandal to the Karnataka Lokayukta Police for further criminal action and filed a complaint before the special court designated for MPs and MLAs.
The scale of corruption laid bare in this scandal raises serious questions about the Congress party’s internal checks and the moral compass of leaders who claim to stand for the common man. At a time when thousands of qualified youth are battling unemployment, politicians misusing cooperative institutions for personal gain is nothing short of betrayal.
