Court declares 14 accused in CET scam as proclaimed offenders

A special anti-corruption court here has issued proclamation notice against 14 absconding accused, including several students, in cases of malpractices in the competitive examination for admissions to various professional courses in 2012.
Special Judge Anti-Corruption Kashmir M L Manhas issued the notice after the Crime Branch Kashmir moved an application seeking issuance of proclamation and attachment of property of the absconding accused under sections 87 and 88 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
The Judge directed all the accused which includes several students, who had allegedly secured admission in the Government Medical Colleges after purchasing question papers from officials of the Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) in 2012, to present themselves before the court on April 24.

The proclamation, published in local dailies today, was issued by the court yesterday after perusing the relevant records produced by Crime Branch in support of its contention against the 14 accused named in supplementary chargesheet filed in the court on March 1, 2014.
The investigating agency has pleaded that the earlier arrest warrants of the court issued under section 512 of CrPC against the accused could not be executed as they were absconding.
The court said it has reasons to believe that the accused against whom general warrants of arrest were issued have absconded or are concealing themselves to avoid execution of the warrants against them.

"Therefore, a written proclamation is issued/published requiring the absconding accused persons to appear before this court by or before 24 April 2014," the court ordered.

The proclamation has been issued against Muhammad Amin Ganaie, Mir Wajid Majeed, Mir Danish Majeed, Abdul Majeed Mir, Fida Hussain Lone, Ruhail Ahmad Mir, Muhammad Amin Mir, Hilal Ahmad Shokli, Imtiyaz-ul-Hussain Shah, Altaf Hussain Shah, Yasmin Jan, Arooj Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad Kanue and Mushtaq Ahmad Dar.
The Crime Bracnh has filed supplementary charge-sheet against 19 persons before Special Judge anti-corruption Kashmir on March 1, 2014.
The former chairman of the BOPEE Mushtaq Ahmad Peer and two others have been arrested in connection with the scandal which led to protests by doctors' community, seeking cancellation of the admissions of the students who had used fraudulent means.

The BOPEE has canceled the admissions of those students named in the chargesheet already.