Bengaluru:
Karnataka IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, who was reported to be untraceable for two days, is at his hometown in Uttar Pradesh because of his father’s health, state minister Priyank Kharge has said.
Kharge said he had spoken to the officer and that reports connecting his absence to recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) searches at the Karnataka Public Service Commission were incorrect.
Gangwar, a 2016-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who is currently director of MSME in the Industries and Commerce Department, had not been reachable on his official phone since August 20. Initial information available with the Karnataka government indicated that he had last been traced to Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport.
Reports also said he had booked a flight to Delhi.
Kharge said the confusion resulted from a communication gap after the officer left Karnataka because of a family emergency. “There was some miscommunication. It has nothing to do with the ED searches,” the minister told reporters.
There have been reports that an IAS officer in Karnataka has gone missing.
The officer concerned has since communicated with the Government and clarified that, due to a family emergency, he had sought leave and had to travel urgently to his hometown.
During this period, he was…
— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) August 22, 2026
He said that when reporters asked him about the matter earlier on Saturday, the government had only limited information. At that point, officials knew that Gangwar had not been reachable for the previous few days.
According to Kharge, Gangwar’s father is a heart patient and a sudden change in his condition required the officer to leave immediately. The officer had submitted a handwritten leave request to the authorities, seeking a week away from work because of unavoidable circumstances, the minister said.
The leave application could not be processed immediately because the preceding day was a festival and government offices were not fully operational, he said.
Gangwar’s official phone was switched off. Although he had a personal phone, officials were initially unable to contact him because he was travelling and later reached his hometown, according to the minister.
“We contacted him, and he told us that he had applied for leave and informed the government,” Kharge said.
The officer told the government that he had not been able to communicate properly because of the situation involving his father and he would return in the next few days to complete the leave formalities, the minister said.
Kharge said he had personally spoken to Gangwar and dismissed reports that the officer had disappeared. He also rejected reports that Gangwar’s departure was connected to the ED searches at the KPSC, where the officer had earlier served as controller of examinations. Gangwar was removed from that post in March.
Gangwar had told the government that he was prepared to face an inquiry by any agency if one was ordered, Kharge said. “There are no allegations against him currently, and no one has filed an application seeking an inquiry against him. Let this be very clear,” the minister said.
