Central Bureau of Investigation. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday (April 18, 2025) conducted searches at five locations in Chhattisgarh in connection with the alleged Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission Recruitment Scam (CGPSC Recruitment Scam), the CBI said in a statement.

The search locations – premises of persons(middlemen/solvers, etc.) – including three in Raipur and two in Mahasamund district, led to the recovery of incriminating documents, said the statement. Role of these persons, whose name the agency did not mention, emerged during the investigation of the case in which allegations of selection of close relatives [of government officials and politicians] based on factors other than merit in the examination/ interviews during the year 2020 to 2022 as Deputy Collectors, DSPs and other senior posts in the Chhattisgarh.

Last November, the CBI had arrested former CGPSC chairman Taman Singh Sonwani and others, including Shravan Kumar Goyal, then Director of Shri Bajarang Power and Ispat Ltd.

“Later, CBI arrested five more accused including Shri Nitesh Sonwani (Nephew of accused then Chairman, selected as DC) and Shri Lalit Ganvir (then Dy. Exam Controller, CGPSC) on 10.01.2025 and while Shri Shashank Goyal & Ms. Bhumika Katiyar (both selected as DCs) and Shri Sahil Sonwani (selected as Dy SP) were arrested on 12.01.2025 in the case,” the statement added.