Ex-chairman recruitment board convicted in railway paper leak

A CBI special court in Hyderabad has sentenced then-chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board Mumbai, Satendra Mohan Sharma, and nine others to five years' rigorous imprisonment in connection with a leak of exam papers in 2010, officials said on Tuesday, 30 January.

Among those sentenced in the case by the principal special judge for CBI cases is former Assan–Mangalore Rail Development Corporation CEO A.K. Jagannadham.

The court has also slapped a fine of Rs 1.75 lakh on Sharma and Rs 1.31 lakh on Jagannadham, the officials said. The total fines slapped on all 10 accused amounts to Rs 7.87 lakh.

The agency on 15 June 2010 booked the accused over the leak of examination papers for the recruitment of 1,936 assistant loco pilots and assistant station masters. The exam was scheduled to be conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board on 6 June of that year.

It was alleged that Sharma and Jagannadham had entered into a conspiracy in 2010 with the other accused to leak the question papers through agents, for payments between Rs 3.50 lakh and Rs 4.00 lakh.

'In pursuance of the said conspiracy, convicted accused Jagannadham Shareen Kumar; P. Ashok Kumar; Jagannadham Ramesh; Jagannadham Tirupathaiah; Mandarama Seshu Narayana Murthy; Vivek Bharadwaj; Srujan Jagannadham; and Shrirama Vijay Shankar, who were appointed as agents, lured several aspirants across the country and collected various amounts ranging between Rs 5,000 to Rs 1,50,000 (Rs 1.50 lakh) and original qualification certificates from about 193 aspirants,' a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

The aspirants were taken to Goa, Sholapur and Nagpur, where they were tutored on the leaked exam papers, according to the statement.

'The CBI had conducted searches at the official and residential premises of the accused that also led to the recovery of cash of Rs 36.90 lakh (approx). During the investigation, 15 accused were arrested, who were later enlarged on bail,' the spokesperson said.

The agency filed the chargesheet within three months, on 13 September 2010.

"The court after trial found the convicted accused guilty and sentenced them. Four accused were acquitted, while the trial against one accused was abetted due to his death," the spokesperson said.