7-year rigorous imprisonment to two candidates in VYAPAM case

A special CBI court on Monday sentenced two candidates to rigorous imprisonment for seven years over their involvement in the Vyapam case, related to recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh.

The Vyapam cases Special Judge in Bhopal sentenced Rakesh Patel and Tarun Usare -- who had applied for the posts of Police Assistant Sub-Inspector and Subedar examination-2013 -- to seven years' rigorous imprisonment, along with fines ranging from Rs 1,000 to 3,000, a CBI official said in a statement.

The CBI had registered the case on the orders of the Supreme Court and taken over the investigation from the Madhya Pradesh Police.

The case was earlier registered on the allegations of criminal conspiracy in the theft of and manipulation in OMR answer sheets in connection with the examination for the posts conducted by Vyapam -- Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Professional Examination Board) -- on June 9, 2013.

It was alleged that when the envelopes containing the OMR answer sheets were opened on June 15, 2013 in the computer section of Vyapam for scanning, the officials found that two OMR answer sheets were missing from the respective envelopes.

The examination controller was informed after which a search was carried out and photocopies of the two OMR sheets were found in a bag kept by the side of a security guard who said 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 manipulating them in lieu of monetary consideration from the candidates and their families.

The original OMR answer sheets were recovered at the instance of the accused from a pile of garbage.

Thereafter, a case was registered at the MP Nagar police station and during the investigation by the MP Police, the two candidates -- Usare and Patel -- were also made accused.

The chargesheet against the accused was filed by the MP Police on July 29, 2013 under relevant provisions of the IPC and the Madhya Pradesh Recognized Examinations Act.

After collecting additional evidence, the CBI filed a chargesheet against the five accused on May 25, 2017.

The trial court found the two accused candidates guilty and acquitted three employees including the security guard of Vyapam.