By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Friday issued notices to the CBI and Tihar Jail authorities on a plea of a 71-year-old woman, convicted along with former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala in a teacher recruitment scam.
Raksha Jindal, a member of the district level selection committee constituted to recruit teachers in Haryana, moved the court challenging the four-year sentence awarded to her by the trial court.
Hearing the plea, Justice Mukta Gupta asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed the case, to file its reply and Tihar Jail superintendent to file status report giving details about Jindal’s health conditions.
Jindal also moved a bail application on medical grounds.
The court posted the matter for Feb 7.
The counsel appearing for Jindal told the court that “the convict is 71 years old and is wheelchair-bound as she has been suffering permanent disability. Even the trial court had allowed her to use the wheelchair inside the prison”.
Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar had last month sentenced Chautala, also the Indian National Lok Dal chief, his son Ajay Chautala, and eight others to 10 years in jail. One accused in the case was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail, while 45 others got four years’ imprisonment.
The court had earlier found prima facie evidence against the Chautalas and 53 others and charged all of them June 6, 2008, for their role in the scam that took place between 1999 and 2000, when Chautala was Haryana chief minister.
Over 3,000 teachers were to be recruited in the state and Chautala pressurised a senior official, Sanjiv Kumar, to change the list of selected candidates by fudging the marks of certain favourites.
Of the 62 people accused in the junior basic training (JBT) teacher hiring scam, six died during the trial. One was discharged during framing of charges.
The Chautalas and others were held guilty of offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).