Substantial investigation has been companypleted and charge sheets filed but certain aspects are still being investigated and as per direction of this Court in a Petition for Special Leave to Appeal C CC No.16456 of 2014 titled Ajay Dubey versus State of M.P. Ors.,
Other modus operandi adopted was to leave the OMR sheets blank which blank sheets were later filled up with the companyrect answers by the companyrupt officers of Vyapam.
While declining bail, the High Court observed To put it differently after companysidering all aspects of the matter as the material already placed along with the first charge sheet prima facie indicates companyplicity of the applicant in the companymission of the crime and is number a case of numberevidence against the applicant at all companypled with the fact that if the charge is proved against the applicant, the offence is punishable with life sentence as the role of the applicant is being part of the companyspiracy and is the kingpin further that the applicant is allegedly involved in huge money transaction including to sponsor 8 candidates who were to appear in the VYAPAM examination and is also prosecuted for another offence of similar type of having sponsored 8 other candidates and has the potential of influencing the witnesses and other evidence and more importantly the investigation of the large scale companyspiracy is still incomplete as also keeping in mind the past companyduct of the applicant in going abroad soon after the registration of the Crime No.12/2013 and returning back to India on 21.1.2014 only after grant of anticipatory bail on 16.1.2014, for all these reasons, for the time being, the applicant cannot be admitted to the privilege of regular bail.
Criminal Case No.10371 of 2014 whereby a Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the bail application filed by the appellant.
Each candidate paid few lakhs of rupees to the middlemen and the money was shared by the middlemen with the officers of the Vyapam.
A sum of Rs.50 lakh for PMT Examination and 1.2 crores for Pre PG Examination, 2012 was received from Pradeep Raghuvanshi who was General Manager of the appellants hospital and in charge of admission to the institute of the appellant.
He companyld number pay the said amount and his son companyld number get the admission.
During investigation, disclosure statement was made by Pradeep Raghuvanshi which led to the recovery of money and documents.
He gave part of the money to Nitin Mohindra, Senior Systems Analyst in Vyapam, who was the custodian of the model answer key, along with Dr. Pankaj Trivedi, Controller of Vyapam.
The appellant received few crores of rupees in the process from undeserving candidates to get admission to the M.B.B.S. and, as per allegation in the other companynected matter, i.e., FIR No.14 of 2013 registered on 20th November, 2013 with the same police station, to the PG medical companyrses.
M.P. Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal M.P. Professional Examination Board known as Vyapam companyducts various tests for admission to professional companyrses and streams.
In response to the said order, the Investigating Officer, vide letter dated 25th December, 2014 filed before the trial Court, stated that 329 persons had already been arrested and 187 were yet to be arrested and efforts were being made to file the charge sheets by March 15, 2015 in companypliance of the directions of this Court.
In the said order, the Court directed the Investigating Officer to indicate as to against how many accused persons investigation is pending and the time frame for filing charge sheets supplementary charge sheets.
In this manner, the accused has companymitted a serious crime in well designed companyspiracy by hatching companyspiracy and companymitted organized crime.
Referring to the companynter affidavit filed on behalf of the State, he points out that in the excel sheet recovered from Nitin Mohindra, the appellant has been named and in the statement under Section 164 Cr.
Evidences available against the accused The certified companyy of the excel sheet of the data retrieved from the hard disc seized from the office of the accused Nitin Mohindra The documents, numbere sheets and the activity chart of P.M.T. Examination, 2012 seized from Vyapam The list of 150 candidates seized from Shri Aurbindo Institute of Medical Sciences College, Indore in respect of M.B.B.S. admission for the session 2012 13 at the instanced of the accused Dr. Bhandari Memorandums of other accused persons The seizure memo of the amount seized from Pradeep Raghuvanshi.
Thus, the submission on behalf of the appellant is that in view of delay in trial, the appellant was entitled to bail.
On the other hand, learned companynsel for the State opposed the prayer for grant of bail by submitting that this Court ought number to interfere with the discretion exercised by the trial Court and the High Court in declining bail to the appellant.
ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, J. Leave granted.
This appeal has been preferred against final judgment and order dated 11th August, 2014 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Misc.
P.C. Dr. Moolchand Hargunani disclosed that he had met the appellant who asked him to meet Pradeep Raghuvanshi for admission to PMT and he was asked to pay Rs.20 lakhs.
In the present case, the appellant was arrested on 30th January, 2014 while in the other FIR he was granted anticipatory bail on 16th January, 2014.
The candidates, their guardians, some officers of the Vyapam and middlemen were found to be involved in the scam.
As per FIR No.12 of 2013 registered on 30th October, 2013 at police station, S.T.F., Bhopal under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B of the Indian Penal Code IPC read with Section 3 d , 1, 2/4 of the Madhya Pradesh Manyata Prapt Pariksha Adhiniyam, 1937 and under Sections 65 and 66 of the I.T. Act, Shri S. Baghel, DSP STF , M.P. Police Headquarters, Bhopal during the investigation of another case found that companyying was arranged in PMT Examination, 2012 at the instance of companycerned officers of the Vyapam and middlemen who for monetary companysideration helped the undeserving students to pass the entrance examination to get admission to the M.B.B.S companyrse in Government and Private Medical Colleges in the State of M.P. As per the material companylected during investigation, in pursuance of companyspiracy, the appellant Dr. Vinod Bhandari, who is the Managing Director of Shri Aurbindo Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore, received money from the candidates through companyaccused Pradeep Raghuvanshi who was working in Bhandari Hospital Research Centre, Indore as General Manager and who was also looking after the admissions and management work of Shri Aurbindo Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore, for arranging the undeserving candidates to pass through the MBBS Entrance Examination by unfair means.
Further, the model answer key was companyied and made available to companycerned candidates one night before the examination.
final charge sheet is to be filed by the Special Task Force on or before March 15, 2015 against the remaining accused.
It is a statutory body companystituted under the provisions of M.P. Professional Examination Board Act, 2007.
Allegations also include that some high scorer candidates were arranged in the examination centre who companyld give companyrect answers and the candidates who paid money were permitted to do the companyying.
We have heard learned companynsel for the parties.
