JBT scam: HC grants bail to one of the convicts

The Delhi HC Wednesday granted interim bail to one of the 55 persons convicted and sentenced along with former Haryana CM OP Chautala in the teacher recruitment scam case, to attend the marriage ceremony of her daughter.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday granted interim bail to one of the 55 persons convicted and sentenced along with former Haryana Chief Minister O P Chautala in the teacher recruitment scam case, to attend the marriage ceremony of her daughter.

"I deem it a fit case to suspend the sentence for the period of five weeks on furnishing of personal bond of Rs 25,000 with surety of like amount," Justice Mukta Gupta said. Rekha Sharma, who was a senior lecturer in a District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in 1999-2000, was sentenced to four years` jail term on January 22. She had moved the high court seeking bail to solemnise her daughter`s marriage, which is scheduled for February 6. A special CBI court had sentenced Indian National Lok Dal chief Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and eight others to 10 years in jail while one convict was sentenced to five years in jail and 45 others to four years in jail. On January 16, the court had held 78-year-old Om Prakash Chautala guilty of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in the state in 2000. The 55 convicted include the then Director of Primary Education Sanjiv Kumar, Chautala`s former Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar, both IAS officers, political advisor to the then Haryana CM Sher Singh Badshami and 16 women officials. The court had convicted them relying on the testimony of Kumar, who initially was a whistle blower but in the CBI probe that followed he was found to be involved in the scam. All the 55 convicts were convicted and sentenced under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 418 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of the IPC and sections 13 (1) (d) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. In June 200, CBI had filed its charge sheet before the special CBI court against 62 persons, out of which six died during the trial while one was discharged by the court. The apex court had in its order of November 25, 2003, directed CBI to take up the investigation of the case. PTI