There was chaos in Karnataka bureaucracy as Karnataka-cadre IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar was found untraceable, two days after flying from Bengaluru to Delhi.
The situation became more tense following acknowledgement from Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge that the 2016-batch officer had been missing since last two days.
The moment news broke out of Gangwar being untraceable, people started linking his disappearance with recent irregularities in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), where Gangwar served as Controller of Examination in the KPSC from February 2024 to March 2026 before being transferred as Director, MSME, in June this year.
People suspected that the reason behind his untraceability could be the paper leak in the veterinary services examination followed by a recent raid by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
When the noise reached a high decibel, the Home Minister Kharge who acknowledged his untraceability, wrote on X that the officer had contacted the government and is in touch with officials.
During this period, he was not reachable on his official phone, which appears to have led to some confusion and speculation regarding his whereabouts. He has since been in touch with the government and clarified the position,” Kharge wrote on X.
Police said that Gangwar had boarded an IndiGo flight to Delhi around 3 pm on August 20 after booking a last-minute ticket for Rs 30,200. He landed in Delhi around 6 pm, took a cab and then became unreachable. However, officials later informed that Gangwar had sought urgent leave to travel to his hometown due to a family emergency.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
