A Bengaluru Court has granted an ex-parte temporary injunction restraining several media houses and social media platforms from publishing, telecasting, or broadcasting unverified and sensationalised content against Basavaraj Kannale, an accused in the high-profile KPSC recruitment scam.

The plaintiff, Kannale, is arrayed as Accused [A6] in a crime [Crime No. 89/2026] registered at Vidhana Soudha Police Station. He is also facing investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Special Investigation Team (SIT), and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in connection with the alleged KPSC recruitment scam. He is currently in judicial custody.

After hearing Senior Advocate Aruna Shyam appearing for the plaintiff, and after perusing the materials on record, the Court noted that the defendants had indeed published and uploaded unverified news related to the investigation.

“….Careful perusal of averments of the plaintiff and documents relied upon by plaintiff makes it clear that the defendants being publishers, Broadcasters, Printers, Uploaders of Print, Electronic Media and Social Media, have published and uploaded unverified news related to investigation of KPSC Scam of recruitment of Veterinary officers and thereby damaged reputation of plaintiff…” the Court observed.

The Court further opined that it was a fit case for granting an ex-parte temporary injunction, since the purpose of granting such relief would be defeated by delay if notices were ordered to the defendants. Hence,the order prohibits the defendants from generating, broadcasting or sharing any defamatory, unverified, or prejudicial content concerning the plaintiff and his family members in connection with the investigation and criminal proceedings.

“…The Defendants, their men….anybody claiming under them are restrained by temporary injunction from telecasting, publishing, writing, circulating and uploading any unfounded news, article, headlines, audio, video, interview, etc concerning Plaintiff and his family members in connection with investigation being conducted by Vidhana Soudha Police in Crime No.89/2026 and investigation being conducted by ED, CID, SIT in respect of KPSC scam of recruitment of Veterinary Officers till next date of hearing…”, the court noted in the order.

The plaintiff had also filed a second application seeking a mandatory injunction directing the defendants to remove already published content. About this, the court added:

“…Further Defendants are directed to disable any articles, news item, interview, audio, video, etc already uploaded containing unfounded news in respect of Plaintiff and his family members in print and electronic media…”, the court said further in the order.

Kannale, who claims to be a member of the Syndicate of Tumakuru University, filed the suit seeking a permanent injunction against 24 named defendants, including major television news channels, newspapers, and social media giants like Google, Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram), YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter).

The plaintiff alleges that following his arrest, the defendants engaged in a 'media trial', portraying him as a 'Kingpin' and 'middleman' in the scam. According to him, there were objectionable headlines such as 'How can somebody become a millionaire from zero in five years?', and reports suggesting he purchased land using proceeds from the alleged crime. He argued that such unverified allegations in the reports, portrayed as established facts, causes damage to his reputation and standing in society.

The Supreme Court had on October 1 stayed the Karnataka High Court's directions constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and ordering a de novo investigation into alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) Veterinary Officer recruitment scam.