Ex-BOPEE head appears before Crime Branch in question paper

The former chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE), Mushtaq Ahmad Peer, today appeared before Crime Branch here in connection with the case of the alleged sale of Common Entrance Test (CET) question papers last year.
Peer walked into the Crime Branch office here this morning following raids at his residences in Jammu and Srinagar over the past two days in connection with the probe into the said case, sources said.
Some incriminating documents were recovered from the Hazratbal (Srinagar) and Sidhra (Jammu) residences of Peer, the sources added.
The Crime Branch probe into the case started after a written complaint was received earlier this year that 12 candidates had qualified through the CET 2012 exam by purchasing the question papers from a syndicate that included some officials who were close to the then BOPEE chairman.

According to the complaint, the said 12 students benefited from the scam and found admission at professional colleges in the state.
The suspicion of wrongdoing grew stronger when Crime Branch sleuths found that the said students had topped CET 2012 despite having below-average academic records.

These students had also failed the internal tests held by the professional colleges where they had enrolled. Three of these students are close relatives, including a brother-sister duo.
A Crime Branch official said they have so far arrested one person - Sajad Ahmad Sofi - who had acted as an agent in the racket.
During the probe, Crime Branch officials were startled to find that a special examination centre was set up in a hotel near Dal Lake for those candidates who had paid as much as Rs 20 lakh for ensuring admission to professional courses.