Recruitment scam: Ex-Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala convicted, arrested

NEW DELHI: Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, his MLA-son Ajay Chautala and 53 others were convicted on Wednesday by a Delhi court for the illegal recruitment of over 3000 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in the state.

After the court pronounced its judgement, all the convicts were taken into judicial custody. The court has fixed January 22 for pronouncing the quantum of sentence.

Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar held Chautala, his son and others guilty of offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

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

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The court has fixed January 17, 19 and 21 for hearing the arguments on sentence.

The court had framed charges against them 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 had reserved its verdict in the case on December 17, 2012 after conclusion of final arguments by the CBI and the defence counsel.

Out of the initial 62 accused, six had died during the trial while one had been discharged by the court at the time of framing of charges.

The court had earlier found prima facie evidence against Chautala, his son Ajay and 53 others, including IAS officers Dhar and Kumar.

Kumar was made accused by the CBI after he exposed the JBT recruitment scam.