CGPSC Scam: ED Files 99-Page Complaint Against Ex-Chairman Sonwani, Six Others

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed its first prosecution complaint in the alleged Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (CGPSC) recruitment scam against former chairman Taman Singh Sonwani and six others.

The 99-page complaint, accompanied by around 3,700 pages of documents, was filed before the Special PMLA Court in Raipur, ED lawyer Sourabh Kumar Pande said.

Besides Sonwani, the accused named in the complaint are businessman Shravan Goyal, former CGPSC Deputy Controller (Examination) Lalit Ganvir, Utkarsh Chandrakar, Vikas Chandrakar, Anil Chandrakar and Additional Collector Chetan Borghariya.

According to the ED, Goyal allegedly provided money to Sonwani's NGO, Gramin Vikas Samiti (GVS), to facilitate the selection of his son and daughter-in-law in CGPSC examinations.

The agency has also alleged that Ganvir played a role in the 2021 amendment of CGPSC recruitment rules, including removal of the word "nephew" from the definition of family, which allegedly helped facilitate the selection of relatives of then chairman Sonwani.

Utkarsh and Vikas Chandrakar allegedly obtained preliminary and mains examination papers for certain candidates and collected money in return, the ED lawyer said.

Sonwani was arrested by the ED in July as part of its probe into alleged corruption, question-paper leaks and manipulation in CGPSC examinations held in 2020 and 2021. The examinations were conducted for posts including deputy collector and deputy superintendent of police when the Congress was in power in Chhattisgarh.

The money-laundering investigation originated from an FIR registered by the Chhattisgarh Economic Offences Wing (EOW), followed by a CBI complaint filed in July 2024 and three chargesheets filed in 2025.

Sonwani had also been arrested by the CBI in 2024 in connection with the case. The CBI probe followed the BJP's victory over the Congress in the November 2023 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.