ED Nabs Former Chhattisgarh PSC Chief Over Alleged Examination Paper Leak

Raipur, July 25 2026 – In a development that has set the state’s bureaucracy buzzing, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) slapped handcuffs on former Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman Taman Singh Sonwani. The charge sheet points squarely at a “paper leak” scandal that allegedly tainted the state service examinations held in 2020 and 2021.

According to officials, Sonwani was nabbed under the Prevention of Money‑Laundering Act (PMLA) after a series of evasive answers during questioning. He was whisked to a special PMLA court in Raipur, where the agency is expected to ask for a custodial remand.

The money‑laundering probe is rooted in a 2024 FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). That FIR itself sprang from a state‑police complaint filed after the BJP wrested power from the Congress in Chhattisgarh’s November 2023 elections. Sonwani, who was already under CBI scrutiny, had been arrested once before in 2024.

What the ED alleges is a fairly brazen scheme: Sonwani supposedly leaked the examination papers and steered the selection process in favour of his own relatives and candidates who slipped him cash. The agency even claims the PSC’s recruitment rules were quietly tweaked in 2021, stripping the word “nephew” from the definition of family – a move, it says, designed to smooth the way for his kin.

Money, of course, changed hands. The investigation says bribes – a mix of cash and bank transfers – were funneled through a family‑run “samiti” under the guise of a corporate social‑responsibility donation to a college that never actually existed. Roughly ₹45 lakh, according to the ED, made its way through this phantom channel.

When asked about the allegations, Sonwani’s lawyers have remained tight‑lipped, while the ED says it will press for a jail‑term while the trial proceeds. The case has already sparked a wave of commentary among aspirants who fear that the very examinations meant to be merit‑based were compromised.

As the legal wheels turn, the broader question looms: how deep does the alleged collusion run within the state’s recruitment machinery? For now, the courts in Raipur will decide whether Sonwani stays behind bars or walks free pending a full trial.