Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh High Court has granted conditional bail to nine former officials of private medical colleges accused of cheating, forgery among other offences related to pre-medical test PMT-2013 for admissions to MBBS course under the multi-crore Vyapam scam.
The court in its order stated that in the event of arrest, the petitioners may be released on their furnishing a personal bond amount of Rs 1 lakh.
A division bench of Justices S Nagu and M S Bhatti on Friday imposed certain conditions on the accused persons, including that they will not seek unnecessary adjournments during the trial.
The court allowed bail applications of S N Vijaywargiya, the former chairman of Peoples College of Medical Science and Research Centre in Bhopal, Dr Ajay Goenka, the then secretary of Chirayu Charitable Foundation Bhopal and Suresh Singh Bhadoria, the then chairman of Mayank Welfare Society Indore.
The others granted bail were former members of Chirayu Medical College and Hospital's admission committee Dr Ravi Saxena, S N Saxena and Dr V H Bhavsar, former dean of Peoples College of Medical Science and Research Centre Dr Vijay Kumar Pandya, Arun Kumar Arora, a former employee of Index Medical College Indore and former dean of Chirayu Medical College and Hospital Dr Virendra Mohan.
As per the order, the petitioners cannot seek unnecessary adjournments during the trial, cannot leave India without permission of the trial court, investigating officer, cannot indulge in extending inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case.
The applicants took the ground that the CBI, which is probing the admission and recruitment scam, had filed the chargesheet in the case on February 17 before a special court at Bhopal stating that the interrogation is complete, the petitioners' counsel Ajay Gupta said.
The applicants are apprehending their arrest in a criminal case registered at the police station CBI, Bhopal for offences under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the IPC, Madhya Pradesh Recognised Examinations Act, 1937, IT Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Arms Act.
The scam in Vyapam or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, now renamed MP Karmachari Chayan Aayog, broke out in 2013, wherein candidates had bribed officials and rigged exams by deploying imposters to write their answer sheets.
The scam began in 1995 involving politicians, senior officials and businessmen. The CBI had taken over the investigation following the Supreme Court order in 2015.
