The Enforcement Directorate logo.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bengaluru Zonal Office, has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 19.46 crore in connection with the engineering seat blocking scam involving BMS Educational Trust. The attached assets include one plot and two flats belonging to the trustees of the trust. Meanwhile, in a separate case, ED has also provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 1.53 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in PSI Recruitment Scam. The attached assets include residential properties belonging to Amrit Paul (ADGP) and Sridhar H (Head Constable).
BMS Educational Trust
In the case of BMS Educational Trust, the ED probe is based on FIRs registered by Malleswaram and Hanumantha Nagar police in Bengaluru over alleged illegal collection of cash during engineering admissions through the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA). Investigators found that students were charged amounts over and above the prescribed fees.
Searches were conducted in June 2025 revealed that engineering seats in colleges run by the trust were allegedly sold through middlemen and agents. Unaccounted cash was collected directly from students as well as through educational consultants and was not recorded in the trust’s accounts.
The ED had seized Rs 1.86 crore in cash during the searches and recovered evidence indicating unaccounted collections of Rs 20.20 crore. Officials said the evidence included diary entries and WhatsApp chats, corroborated by statements from college staff, management and agents. The investigation revealed that the illicit proceeds were used for the personal benefit of the trust’s trustees and further investigation is underway, ED officials said in the press release.
PSI recruitment scam
In the PSI recruitment scam, ED had initiated investigation based on the FIR registered by the High Grounds Police Station and CID, Bengaluru against various police officials and candidates for irregularities in the recruitment of Police Sub-Inspectors in 2021-22.
The Police Recruitment Cell had conducted an examination for filling up 545 vacancies of Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) in the Police Department and a provisional list of successful candidates was published. However, after the list was out, allegations of cheating and corrupt practices surfaced
“ED investigation revealed that Amrit Paul, the then Additional Director General of Police (Recruitment), played a pivotal role in the conspiracy by facilitating unauthorized access to the strong room where OMR answer sheets were kept. He handed over the keys of the almirah containing the strong room keys to Dy. SP Shanth Kumar, allowing accomplices, including Sridhar H, to tamper with the OMR sheets of undeserving candidates to ensure their selection,” the ED said in a statement.
According to an ED investigation, the accused collected bribes ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 70 lakh per candidate. “Illicit cash proceeds were layered under the guise of hand loans and utilized the money for the construction of residential properties. Earlier, ED had filed a Prosecution Complaint in this matter and the Court has already taken cognizance of the offence of money laundering as defined under section 3 of PMLA, 2002,” the statement further said.