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.

BOSE does not have answer papers of Peerzadas son

The crime branch of the state police may not be able to crack the case of alleged unfair means of the education minister, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, as there is no record available with  Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) authorities with regard to the original answer papers of the candidate.

Sources said that after chief minister Omar Abdullah handed over the case to crime branch for probe the head of the BOSE, Dr Shiekh Bashir directed the officials of concerned section to look for the answer papers of the candidate but they could not find any of the papers. "Though the board officials put up in all their efforts to trace the answer papers of the candidate from the secrecy section but failed to locate any," said the sources from the BOSE.

They added that in the absence of the original answer papers of the candidate it will be a bit difficult for the investigating agency to solve the case. "Since the board authorities clearly say that the original answer papers of the candidate are not available with them so the investigating agency will have a tough go in solving the case," sources added.

Confirming that there is no record available with board with regard to the answer papers of the candidate, chairman of the BOSE, Dr Shiekh Bashir, said, "The case is two years old and we do not keep the old papers but sell those. Even then we tried our best to get the answer papers of the candidate but failed to trace them from our secrecy section."He further denied the allegations of the use of unfair means to help the minister’s son pass the matric examinations, saying that the issue is being raked up by the official for his personal interests. 

Minister in exam copying scam

CM asks Crime Branch to probe Peerzada denies allegation

Taking cognizance of the media reports about education minister using unfair means to get his son passed in 10th class examination chief minister Omar Abdullah has asked the minister to explain his position and has asked the Crime Branch to probe the matter.

However, education minister, Peerzada Mohammed Sayeed, denying the allegations has welcomed the decision of the CM to get the matter probed. An official handout said that the chief minister Omar Abdullah, taking strong cognizance of the report carried by a local daily, asked the top crime branch officials to probe the case and bring facts to fore. Besides, the handout said, chief minister issued an explanation to the education minister asking him to clear his position with regard to the matter.

“After the chief minister sought an explanation, Peerzada appeared before him and explained his position," sources said. The minister denied the allegations and told the CM that he will welcome the probe into the matter by crime branch of the police or any other investigating agency. 

“The reports were just an attempt to damage my credibility and I will fully cooperate if the matter is probed thoroughly by the crime branch,” sources quoted the minister as having told the CM. Pertinently the minister, a couple of years ago, remained in news for weeks after his name figured in the multi crore scam in education department.

A local English daily had carried the facsimile of an answer sheet in two handwritings -- alleging that part of it had been written by an education official to help his son pass the secondary school exam in 2009. 

It has been alleged that an official of the education department posted on exam duty had written part of the student's Urdu exam paper in order to help him pass the exam.

A complaint lodged by another teacher posted on duty at the centre was received by the authorities of the Jammu and Kashmir board of school examinations, but despite recommendations to withhold the result of the candidate, the authorities went ahead announcing that the candidate had passed the exam.