Sentence against Chautalas today, INLD supporters protest

New Delhi, Jan 22: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supporters protested in front of Rohini court here on Tuesday just ahead of Delhi court's order on sentence against party leaders Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son Ajay Singh Chautala in the teacher recruitment scam. Police lathicharged the protesters and also lobbed tear-gas shells after they started pelting stones outside the court.

The former Haryana Chief Minister and his MLA son were taken into custody on Jan 16 after they were found guilty of illegally recruiting over 3,000 junior basic trained teachers in 1999-2000, when Chautala was the CM.

Apart from them, the then director of primary education Sanjiv Kumar, Chautala's former officer on special duty Vidya Dhar and political advisor to the then CM Sher Singh Badshami were also convicted by the court in the case.

The court framed charges against the convicted under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC and and provisions of the PCA. The court reserved its verdict on Dec 17 last year following the conclusion of the final arguments by the CBI and defence counsel.

Six out of 62, who were initially accused in the case, died during the trial while one had been discharged during the framing of charges. The court had found prima facie evidence against the Chautalas and 53 other people. Sixteen out of 55 convicted by the court were women.

In Jun 2008, the CBI chargesheeted the Chautalas and others in connection to appointment of 3,206 junior basic teachers. The CBI had said in the chargesheet that the probe found the way in which the second lists were prepared by inviting chairpersons and members of the district-level selection committees of 18 districts to Haryana Bhavan in Delhi and Chandigarh, where the details were chalked out.

The central investigative agency also said in its chargesheet that the father-son duo had used forged papers to appoint the teachers. The Supreme Court of India had asked the CBI to take up the investigation in Nov 2003.

OneIndia News