Former NU official and student convicted in mark list scandal

Nagpur, Dec 28 (UNI) A special court here today sentenced a former Assistant Registrar of Nagpur University to 12 years and 6 months of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and a former student of an engineering college to nine years and six months after finding them guilty in one of the cases relating to the fake mark list and degree certificate scandal that shook the academic world ten years ago.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 42,000 on the former university official and Rs 32,000 on the student.

Special Judge Ashok Gattani, hearing a bunch of cases pertaining to the scandal, convicted Yadav Kohchade, the then Assistant Registrar (Confidential), and Mohammed Ishaq, then a student of an engineering college in Wardha, of the charges of tampering with a mark list of the first year Bachelor of Engineering (BE) examination of 1996.

Both had been charged with tampering the mark list to get Ishaq's marks increased in four subjects. The court found the third accused, Suresh Manmode, to have been 'prima facie' involved in the scandal, but did not hand down a sentence because he has since died. The court acquitted the fourth accused, Madhukar Smart, for lack of evidence, and did not deliver judgment about the fifth, Bunty Uke, since he is still absconding.

Kohchade has been awarded three years' RI and a fine of Rs 10,000 each under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 420 (cheating), five years' RI and a fine of Rs 15,000 under section 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), one year's RI and a fine of Rs 5,000 under section 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and six months' RI and a fine of Rs 2,000 under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.

Ishaq has been awarded three years' RI and a fine of Rs 10,000 under section 420, five years' RI and a fine of Rs 15,000 under section 468, one year's RI and a fine of Rs 5,000 under section 471, and 6 months' RI and a fine of Rs 2,000 under section 120 B of IPC.

Police took Kohchade and Ishaq into custody immediately after the judgment was pronounced. Today's judgment was the second in the 106 different cases filed by the police in connection with the scandal.

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