Minister's kin remanded to judicial custody

Shimla, Nov 16 (UNI) District and Sessions court today remanded four people, including the brother of State Excise and Taxation Minister Rangila Ram Rao, arrested by the Himachal Pradesh police for their alleged involvement in the PMT paper leak scam to 14-day judicial custody.

Kuldeep Rao, brother of Excise and Taxation Minister, is also one of the persons who were arrested yesterday.

Kuldeep Rao is an Executive Engineer with the PWD department. His daughter was one of the toppers in the first list of the PMT exam later did not appear in the exam.

According to police, parents or wards of 38 students would be called for investigation in the case. Parents of two more students who had been allegedly involved in the scam were arrested by the police today.

Superintendent of Police A K Singh said that the arrests were being made on the apprehension of their involvement in corrupt practices.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary S S Parmar declined to comment on the issue of suspension of Kuldeep Rao.

Earlier, Himachal Pradesh High Court had cancelled the PMT examination and directed the Himachal Pradesh University to conduct fresh examination in mid August. The decision was made after the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by Action Committee of aggrieved students and parents who claimed that there were irregularities in the Himachal Pradesh Combined Pre-Medical Test (HPCPMT) held for two medical colleges and three dental colleges in the state.

A report, on the basis of which the court cancelled the entrance examintation, pointed out that some 38 students who qualified the entrance did not do any rough work while taking examination. Some 5,000 aspirants took the entrance amid reports of paper leak.

UNI XC DP SI RS2052