Fate of Education Minister to be decided in 24 hours

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the fate of Education Minister Peerzada Mohammed Sayeed, whose foster son's Class 10 exam was allegedly fudged, would be decided in the next 24 hours.

Talking to reporters here, Omar said the findings of the Crime Branch have been discussed with his alliance partner Congress.

"We will decide action in 24-36 hours. The minister is not accused of helping his son," Omar said but added the probe had not yet established at whose behest the tampering of three answersheets had been done.

The Chief Minister said he was not lenient with anyone.

"I am just following the natural course of justice that his guilt has to be established. I can't go on presumptions. The guilt must be established. In this case, the minister happens to be the Education Minister also. Therefore, a thorough probe is a must," he said.

The Crime Branch had concluded there were some irregularities in the anwser sheets of Sayeed's foster son's Class 10 exam, which he passed, after it found two hand writings on them.

The Crime Branch, which probed the answer-paper scandal in its report submitted to the government today, also identified three officials allegedly involved in this.

The report said there were two hand writings on three answer sheets of the Class 10 exam taken by the student, official sources said here. Sayeed is a Congress nominee in the state cabinet.

The sources said the three identified officials belonged to the examination division of the J and K Board of Secondary Education.

Imam Sauban, Peerzada Sayeed's son, had passed his class 10 exam in 2009 allegedly with the help from Board of School Education officials.

As the controversy had broken out, the Chief Minister had announced an inquiry by the Crime Branch which questioned the Board officials.

The answer sheets of the candidate were sent to General Examiner of Questioned Documents who opined that the three answer sheets had two different handwritings, they said.

After the probe was announced, Sayeed had welcomed the decision and he said the issue has been raked up to malign his image.

Sayeed had to resign earlier also because of allegations of corruption while he was in Ghulam Nabi Azad's government in the state.

He had quit in January 2008 after being accused of demanding and accepting illegal gratification of Rs 40,000 from an independent MLA Shoaib Lone. 

Police probe one sided Imam

Jammu and Kashmir Minister Peerzada Mohd Sayeed's foster-son Imam Sauban, whose passing of class X exam ran into a controversy over allegations of answer sheet tampering, tonight rejected the police probe report as "one-sided".

He also said he has "no relation" with Peerzada who is being targeted by political rivals using him.

"I reject the probe report of the State Crime Branch as it is one sided. I have not been investigated by Crime Branch about my hand writing", Imam said adding "guns are being trained on Peerzada using my shoulders under a conspiracy".

"I would like to say that I do not have any relation with Peerzada Mohmmad Sayeed at all. He is not father from any angle", Imam told reporters here.

Sauban, who recently passed 12th class examination with distinction, said "Parvez Ahmed Bhat, who died in militancy incident, was my father. I was a baby when he died".

Imam, who distanced himself from the Peerzada family, said his mother married Peerzada and I do not have any objection and I sometime visit my mother that is the only relation with that family. 

Peerzada getting benefit of doubt

Getting the benefit of doubt, education minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, seems to have got a clean chit in the alleged copying in examination scam.

While the authorities are tightlipped about the outcome of the crime branch probe into the matter, but unofficially feelers have been send that the investigations could not find anything against Peerzada. This is because the original answer books of the 10th class examination of son of education minister are not available with BOSE as those have been sold.

If the reports doing rounding in official circles are true then the crime branch has concluded that FIR can not  be registered in the case  due to lack of  evidence (the answer books of Peerzada.)

Peerzada  is being accused of  facilitating the  success of his son in 10th class examination two years back by using the services of BOSE officials who allegedly wrote some of the answers for the student in Urdu.

The education minister had strongly denied the allegation saying it was a conspiracy by some elements who want to see him out of the cabinet. Even the BOSE chairman Sheikh  Bashir denied the allegation against BOSE official and Peerzada . He accused an official in BOSE of planting the stories in newspapers for his vested interests.

No inquiry ordered in Peerzada case CM

Maintaining that no new inquiry was ordered in case of alleged use of unfair means in exam to benefit the son of Education Minister, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that anyone found guilty in the report of Crime Branch, which was handed over the file, won’t be spared.

Replying to questions on the sidelines of State Level Education Conference at University of Jammu, about probe in the case and the likely action against the minister, Chief Minister said, “No new inquiry has been ordered. It is the job of Crime Branch to look into such allegations. I have only handed over the file to the Crime Branch and given them seven days time to give their report.”

He further said, “When the report comes to me, the next step would be taken. If anybody found guilty, he will not be spared.”

While the Minister for School Education Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, who is in the middle of the controversy, refuted the allegations and described it as a conspiracy. Peerzada said, “I welcome the decision of the Chief Minister who has sent the file to Crime Branch. This is an old case. Why did anyone not raise it three years back? My son is studying in part one now. There is a tug of war among the officials of Board of School Education (BOSE) which has resulted in the controversy. It is also aimed at targeting me and maligning my image on the political front.” 

“I deny all these reports in the media. Probe was conducted and all such allegations found baseless,” he said.