KL Report
SRINAGAR
The Crime Branch of Police on Sunday filed charge sheet against 25 accused in Common Entrance Test (CET) paper leak scam of 2012. Besides, some parents, brokers, former chairman of Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE); the list of accused comprises of 12 students who are presently studying in Government Medical College in Srinagar.
Reliable sources told KNS, that the crime branch officer investigating the scam presented the charge sheet before the special judge anti corruption M L Manhas. The accused have been booked under sections 5 (1) d, 5 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act read with 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120 (hatching criminal conspiracy).
“Sofar, 12 students benefitting out of the paper leak scam, have been chargesheeted. Since the investigations are on, the crime branch will file supplementary charge sheet later,” a well placed officer in the crime branch told KNS.
Sources in the court said the trial of these accused will commence on January 18. Pertinently, the charge sheet has been filed a day before the remand of Sajad Ahmad, one of the accused was to end. And that is why Sajad was produced before the anti corruption court on Sunday.
On December 30, 2013 after perusing a report submitted by the crime branch establishing fraud against 12 candidates, whose names figure in the list of accused mentioned in the charge sheet, the High Court had asked BOPEE to submit Action taken Report (ATR) against these students by or before the next date of hearing.
As reported already by KNS, BOPEE is likely to cancel the admissions of these 12 charge sheeted candidates after show cause notices are served to them. “Besides these 12, the Crime Branch has almost established a case against six students and investigations are on in other four students,” a senior officer of the Crime Branch told KNS.
A division bench of the High Court comprising of Justice M H Attar and Justice Verinder Singh later asked the telecom companies operating in the state except Airtel to cooperate with the Crime Branch in furnishing the call recordings required by the investigating agency. In case of non compliance, the court has warned them of a strong action under law. This order came, after the crime branch sought high court’s intervention in facilitating call record details from the private telecom companies operating in the state.
Pertinently, on December 17, an anti corruption court had rejected bail plea of Mushtaq Baqaal, alias Peer former chairman BOPEE– the main accused in CET-2012 paper leak scam. The court had rejected Baqaal’s plea that Crime Branch of police has no jurisdiction to investigate the matter under law.”
On December 3, 2013 the High Court had asked the government to furnish moveable and immoveable property details Baqaal and other accused in the scam.
In its report filed before the special anti corruption court, the crime branch had vehemently opposed the bail plea of Baqaal saying that the matter is still under investigation and the Crime Branch wants to connect the missing links for which Baqaal’s custody is important.
Baqaal is in limelight since the CET-2012 paper leakage scam was unearthed by the Crime Branch in December last year. Presently under the custody of Crime Branch, Baqaal alleged to be involved in selling of CET paper against a hefty amount to the brokers who had in turn sold the sets of paper to the aspiring candidates.
