Gujarat: CBI court sentences eight former railway employees to five years (Lead)

Ahmedabad, July 21 (IANS) A special CBI court in Ahmedabad on Monday sentenced eight former employees of the Western Railway to five years of simple imprisonment in connection with a 2002 exam paper leak case.

Each convict was also fined Rs 5 lakh, bringing the total fine to Rs 40 lakh.

The court found the accused guilty of criminal conspiracy, theft, dishonestly receiving stolen property, tampering with evidence, and criminal misconduct, among other charges.

The convictions come more than two decades after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case.

Those convicted include: Sunil Jasmal Golani, former Head Clerk, DRM Office, Vadodara; Mahendra Mathuraprasad Vyas, former Senior Cipher Operator, Vadodara Division; Rajeshkumar Kaleshwar Goswami, former Electric Signal Maintainer-III, Western Railway, Anand; Anand Somabhai Meraiya, former Electric Signal Maintainer-III, Bajwa, Vadodara; Prakash Sitaramdas Karamchandani, former Senior Clerk, Divisional Office, Vadodara; Mehboobali Abduljabbar Ansari, former Assistant Diesel Driver, Kankaria, Ahmedabad; Pareshkumar Lalhibhai Patel, former Diesel Assistant Driver, Kankaria, Ahmedabad and Pappu Babba Khan, Constable, Railway Protection Force, Ajmer.

The case was originally filed on August 17, 2002, based on a complaint from the then Chief Vigilance Inspector of Western Railway, Ahmedabad. The complaint alleged that question papers for the Probationary Assistant Station Master recruitment exam - scheduled for August 18, 2002 - had been leaked.

Investigators found that the accused were collecting payments between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh from candidates in exchange for advance access to the question paper.

The CBI filed its chargesheet on July 28, 2003. One private individual initially named in the case passed away during the trial. After years of proceedings, the court has now delivered its verdict, convicting the eight railway personnel for their roles in the scam.

In recent years, Gujarat has seen a troubling rise in exam paper leaks, particularly in state-level recruitment exams.

In December 2021, the Gujarat Head Clerk exam was cancelled just hours before it was scheduled, after authorities confirmed a leak that implicated over a dozen people, including employees of a printing press and exam facilitators.

In January 2023, the Junior Clerk recruitment exam - meant for over 9 lakh candidates - was similarly cancelled due to a paper leak, triggering massive backlash and the arrest of more than 15 individuals.

In another major case, the Forest Guard exam paper was leaked in 2024, once again exposing vulnerabilities in the exam conduction process.

Investigations have revealed that many of these leaks are orchestrated by organised rackets involving government insiders, private coaching centres, and middlemen who charge candidates lakhs of rupees for access to leaked papers.

Despite repeated promises of secure, tech-enabled exam systems, the recurring leaks have severely eroded trust in Gujarat’s public recruitment process.

--IANS

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