Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of BSF Commandant (Medical) Karnail Singh who was among the 24 people charge-sheeted by the CBI in the police Sub-Inspector recruitment scam in the Union territory.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Singh on October 18 for allegedly using touts to get his son the question paper of the recruitment examination conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) in March.
Rejecting the bail plea, Justice Mohan Lal said there is every danger of the course of justice being thwarted, if the petitioner is freed on bail.
“Offence indicated against the petitioner is heinous and grave in nature and such types of offences are to be dealt with severity and with iron hand. Showing leniency in such matters would be really a case of misplaced sympathy,” Justice Lal said in his 14-page order.
Additional Advocate General Monika Kohli, appearing for the respondents in the case, vehemently opposed the grant of bail to the accused arguing that the petitioner has indulged in criminal conspiracy with officials of JKSSB and the company assigned the task of conducting the written examination.
She said as many as 33 accused persons are indicted in the case registered against the petitioner who is the “mastermind” of the scam.
Kohli said the investigation is underway and more accused are likely to be arrested for sustained interrogation and if the petitioner/accused is enlarged on bail it will be difficult for the investigating agency to unearth the inter-state gangs operating in several states.
Agreeing with the argument of Kohli, who is also the CBI counsel, the judge said the investigating agency must be provided sufficient time to unearth the paper leak scam and bring the offenders to book.
“…I am of the considered opinion that at this stage when the investigation is yet to be completed, it is the fittest case, where bail ought not be granted and the petitioner too has failed to carve out a strong case for bail in his favour. The bail application being misconceived under law is disallowed, rejected and dismissed,” Justice Lal said.
The judge said the petitioner being a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in the rank of chief medical officer was required to exhibit high integrity, official conduct and decorum above board, but has displayed a character of “unbecoming of a person of defence force”.
“He has been found indulged in criminal conspiracy with other accused persons in a huge scam of irregularities in the written examination of J&K Police Sub-Inspectors posts in regard to leak of question papers and their sale in lieu of money, wherein the investigating agency so far has recovered a cash amount of Rs 61.79 lakh,” he said.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration had cancelled the police sub-inspector recruitment process in July following allegations of irregularities and recommended a CBI probe.
On November 12, the CBI had filed a charge sheet against 24 persons, including Singh, who along with co-accused allegedly used a network of middlemen and officials of Jammu and Kashmir Police and central paramilitary forces to target aspirants willing to cough up Rs 20-30 lakh to get through the recruitment process. (With PTI inputs)
