SRINAGAR: A special court here on Monday framed charges against eight persons, including a prominent Hurriyat leader, for selling Pakistani MBBS seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
A police spokesman in a statement said that after hearing detailed arguments from a battery of lawyers from the side of the defence and the counter arguments of SIA represented by Special Public Prosecutor, in eleven hearings and spread over five months the Court of Special Judge Designated under NIA, Act, Srinagar Manjeet Singh Manhas has framed charges against accused Mohammad Akbar Bhat @ Zaffar Akbar Bhat (Chairman Salvation Movement) S/O Ab.\ Jabbar R/O Usmania Colony Baghi-Mehtab, Fatima Shah W/O Nisar Ahmad Shah R/O Palhalan Pattan A/P 172, Nundreshi Colony near Sham Lal Pump Bemina, Srinagar, Altaf Ahmad Bhat S/o Abdul Jabar Bhat A/P Pakistan, Qazi Yasir S/O Late Nisar Ahmad Qazi R/O Qazi Mohalla, Reshi Bazar, Anantnag, Mohammad Abdullah Shah S/O Ghulam Ahmad Shah R/O Kulpora Salkoot Kupwara, Sabzar Ahmad Sheikh S/O Bashir Ahmad Sheikh R/O Nowgam, Shangus Anantnag, Manzoor Ahmad Shah S/o Gh Ahmad Shah R/o Kulpora Salkote Kupwara A/P Pakistan, Mohd Iqbal Mir S/O Ghulam Rasool Mir R/O Cheeni Chowk near Khwaja Mir Ali School Anantnag of Mahaz Azadi front, for committing offences under 13, 17, 18, 40 UA(P) Act r/w 420 IPC in case FIR No.05/2020 of P/S CIK/SIA Srinagar.
“Case FIR No.05/2020 was registered in CIK/SIA on 27-07- 2020 against unscrupulous persons who were hand in glove with some educational consultancies for arranging admission of J&K residents in MBBS and other professional courses in various Colleges, Institutions and Universities in Pakistan,” said the spokesman, adding that the huge amount of money was received in lien of such admission from the parents of the students, and the money so earned was ploughed into supporting terrorism in J&K.
“During the course of investigation, searches in the houses of accused persons and at the other places was undertaken by sleuths of SIA after obtaining search warrants from Court,” said the spokesman.
“The documents and other material seized during search were analyzed and it was found that deposits in the account(s) of accused persons were made on account of providing admissions in various technical and professional course in Pakistan including MBBS,” he said.
“Cogent evidence surfaced during investigation that the money so received was passed on to militant(s) , stone pelters and OGW(s) for unlawful and militant activities,” he added.
“During the course of investigation statement of witnesses were recorded and on the basis of other evidence collected it surfaced that the admissions in MBBS and other professional courses in Pakistan was in preferentially given to those students who were close family member / relative of killed militants on the recommendations of members of Hurriyat and received by their counterparts in Pakistan,” he added further.
“It was on the recommendations of Hurriyat that authorities in Pakistan provided admission in the professional colleges to the next of kins (NOK’s) of slain militant as a compensation to boost morale and keep the pot of terror boiling in valley and infuse new spirit into the militant fold,” said the spokesman.
“It was further established during investigation that a part of larger conspiracy accused persons through different valley-based consultancies without their knowledge used to motivate the gullible parents of students aspiring for professional courses especially for MBBS to apply through these consultancies for such courses in Pakistan with the assurance of cost-effectiveness in comparison with other south Asian or middle east countries offering such courses,” he said.
He added that on the motivation of accused persons the parents/students often used to get trapped.
“The accused persons in conspiracy with Hurriyat leaders based in Pakistan and Kashmir were demanding huge amount of money from parents for getting their children admitted in different technical courses especially MBBS in Pakistan. Moreover, they also would arrange recommendation letters from Hurriyat leaders and other VTD’s (valid travel documents) from Pakistan Embassy, New Delhi to facilitate their visit to Pakistan for admission. All the arrangements of parents/students in Pakistan were usually done by the accused persons in Pakistan,” said the spokesman.
“The students were made to appear in the National Talent Search (NTS) test at Hurriyat office in Pakistan as a dupe tactic to made them believe that they were writing a prequalifying test which would lead to their admission in professional colleges in Pakistan,” he said.
“Such tests were mostly facilitated by the persons/relative of the accused persons who had ex-filtrated to Pakistan in 1990’s to get illegal arms training and are settled in Pakistan / Pakistan occupied Kashmir, who are utilizing their Kashmir based contacts to further aid and abet militancy in J&K,” he added.
“During the investigation, it came to the fore that the accumulated money was ploughed into militancy and to create law and other problems by disturbing the peace, damaging public property, striking among the common masses and creating a potential threat to the sovereignty of India. Money raised through this process was also distributed among the families of killed militants as a token of incentive for such families and families of active militants to boost their morale and carry forward antinational/subversive/radical activities against the Union of India,” said a police spokesman in a statement.