SEVEN YEARS RIGOROUS IMPRISONMENT TO TWO CANDIDATES IN A CASE RELATED TO VYAPAM
(Judicial Quest News Service)
| The Special Judge, Vyapam Cases, Bhopal has sentenced Sh. Rakesh Patel and Sh. Tarun Usare, both candidates for posts of Police Assistant Sub-Inspector (LDC) & Subedar (Stenographer) examination-2013, to undergo seven years Rigorous Imprisonment with fines ranging from Rs. one thousand to three thousand under relevant Sections of IPC. CBI had registered the case on the orders dated 09.07.2015 of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and taken over the investigation from Madhya Pradesh Police earlier registered on the allegations of criminal conspiracy in the theft of and manipulation in OMR answer sheets in connection with the examination for posts of Assistant Sub-Inspector (LDC) of Police and Subedar (Stenographer) conducted by Vyapam on 09.06.2013. It was further alleged that when the envelopes containing the OMR answer sheets of the said examination were opened on 15.06.2013 in the computer section of Vyapam for scanning, the Vyapam officials detected that 02 OMR answer sheets were missing from the respective envelopes. The fact of the missing OMR answer sheets was reported to The Controller of Examinations, whereafter a search was conducted and photocopies of these 02 OMR answer sheets were found in a bag kept by the side of the security guard. The said security guard disclosed that the bag belonged to an employee of Vyapam. It was further revealed that the OMR answer sheets were stolen by two junior employees in connivance with the security guard for the purpose of manipulating them and inflating the correct answer options on them, in lieu of monetary consideration from the candidates and their family members. The original OMR answer sheets were recovered at the instance of the accused from a pile of garbage where they had hidden them. Thereafter, on a complaint, a case was registered at Police Station, MP Nagar (Madhya Pradesh). During the investigation of MP Police, 02 intended beneficiary candidates namely Tarun Usare and Rakesh Patel were also made accused. Chargesheet against these accused persons was filed by MP Police on 29.07.2013 u/s 380/511, 420, 34, 120B of IPC and 3/4 MPRE Act. After collecting additional evidence, CBI filed a charge sheet against the five accused persons in the Designated Court on 25.05.2017. The Trial Court found the two accused candidates guilty and acquitted three employees including the security guard of Vyapam. |
