Two more held in Chhattisgarh recruitment scam, remanded in CBI custody for two days

NEW DELHI: Two more persons were arrested in connection with the alleged CGPSC scam in Chhattisgarh following which a local court on Saturday remanded the duo in CBI custody for two days, said the lawyer representing one of them.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had summoned the two, Nitesh Sonwani and Lalit Ganweer, on Friday for questioning as part of its probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitments made by the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (CGPSC).

Later, the federal probe agency arrested the two and presented them in the court, Sonwani's counsel Faisal Rizvi told reporters.

CBI had arrested ex-CGPSC chairman Taman Singh Sonwani and director of Bajrang Power and Ispat Limited Shravan Kumar Goyal in November 2024 for their alleged involvement in the case. They are in jail on judicial remand. Nitesh Sonwani is a relative of Taman Singh Sonwani and was also a candidate, while Ganweer is a former deputy examination controller.

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They were presented before the Remand Court Magistrate Soumya Rai who sent them to the custody of CBI for two days, Rizvi said. According to the CBI, Taman Singh Sonwani, when headed CGPSC during the Congress rule between 2018 and 23, allegedly took a bribe of Rs 45 lakh from Goyal to ensure the selection of the latter’s son and daughter-in-law as deputy collectors.

CBI probe into 2020-2022 CGPSC exams for irregularities

The commission is the apex body responsible for recruiting candidates for various state government jobs through competitive examinations. In July 2024, the CBI took over the probe into two cases registered in Chhattisgarh over alleged favouritism in the selection of deputy collectors, deputy superintendents of police and other senior government positions through CGPSC’s exam conducted between 2020 and 2022.

As per the cases, one each registered in Raipur and Arjunda in Balod district, Taman Singh Sonwani, then-secretary Jeevan Kishore Dhruv, then controller of examinations and other public servants and politicians colluded to recruit their kin and acquaintances, who were allegedly ineligible, for various state government posts through tests and interviews conducted during 2020-2022, it said.

The CBI has claimed that Nitesh Sonwani was selected as a deputy collector, while Sahil, son of Taman Singh Sonwani’s elder brother, was picked as deputy SP. Sunita Joshi, daughter of Taman Singh Sonwani’s sister got the job of a labour officer, the agency alleged. Nitesh Sonwani’s wife Nisha Kosale was also selected as a deputy collector, CBI alleged.

Top BJP leaders during electioneering for the 2023 assembly polls, had targeted the then-ruling Congress over alleged irregularities in CGPSC recruitments and promised to get them probed if the saffron party came to power. The BJP won the polls in December 2023.