SCAM/CORRUPTION – 2010 - Indian Social Institute

FIR is “impermissible in law”, Shiware urged the court to quash the FIR dated January 25, 2006. At the
hearing of the case on Wednesday, Shiware’s lawyer Samir Vaidya told the court that proceedings in the
second charge sheet had been merged with the first one that was quashed by the court and therefore
would not survive. The multi-crore MPSC scam was unearthed in 2002 and the Anti Corruption Bureau
(ACB) arrested 29 persons in the case. The scam centred around the 1999 MPSC exams for the post of
sub-inspectors, sales tax inspectors and assistants. ACB claimed answer papers of 398 candidates were
replaced, after they allegedly paid bribes between Rs3 lakh to Rs5 lakh to the accused. The court has
adjourned the case till May 6, Vaidya said. (DNA 22/4/10)
Shashi Tharoor chapter closed, probe on into IPL scam: Congress (5)
New Delhi, Apr 21 : Asserting that former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's
resignation is a closed chapter, the Congress today said an inquiry into the corruption in IPL is underway
and once it reaches its conclusion the law will take its own course. The party also denied that the IPL
controversy has created a divide between the Congress and its ally NCP. Congress spokesman Manish
Tewari told mediapersons here that as a political party the Congress was more concerned about the BPL
than IPL. He said the party was concerned about the serious problems confronting the country, while as
far as IPL is concerned an inquiry process was underway. ''The unfortunate contours of Shashi Tharoor is
a closed chapter. The Minister has already resigned and addressed the Lok Sabha twice on the issue.
There is an inquiry process in IPL underway and if the process yields anything incriminating, the law will
take its own course.'' Asked Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel reportedly complaining that the Congress
had promoted his name in the IPL controversy, Mr Tewari said he had spoken to the Minister and the
latter had denied making any such statement which alluded or inferred that the Congress was dragging
his name in IPL controversy. He also denied that the IPL controversy has divided the Congress and the
NCP and said there was no problem between the two allies. ''What happens in the field of cricket remains
there only as there is a Chinese wall between the field of cricket and politics,'' he said. Mr Tewari refused
to divulge any details about the progress of the probe and the meeting that Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram had with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on the IPL
controversy. The Congress sources indicated that the government could set up an Independent Regulator
for Commercial Sports which could regulate various leagues organising competitive sports be it cricket,
football or any other sports. The regulation and clearance by the regulatory body would reduce corruption.
The party has also advocated stopping monopoly of IPL and recognising ICL and other leagues to
promote competitive sports and also give respite to players who were not getting any time now. (New
Kerala 22/4/10)
PPSC scam back to haunt 11 babus, others (5)
CHANDIGARH: The ghosts of the sensational corruption case involving the then Punjab Public Service
Commission (PPSC) chairman, Ravi Inder Sidhu, are once again threatening to emerge from the
shadows and haunt those allegedly involved in shady deals involving the state’s elitist services. On
Friday, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) will present a challan (chargesheet) against 21 persons,
including 11 serving government officials, of whom at least five are serving PCS officers, in a Patiala court
on charges of having offered bribe money to the selectors. Out of these, two officers are currently serving
as district transport officers (DTO), while two others are posted as assistant excise and taxation
commissioners (AETC) in Punjab. The case has been registered under sections 8, 12, 13(1)(d) of
Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and sections 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 471 (using as
genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Significantly, the presentation of
chargesheet would signal the revival of those cases which had been put into cold storage soon after they
were registered in 2002, against candidates involved in the alleged bribing of the PPSC chairman.
Besides the corruption case against Ravi Sidhu, the VB has lodged nearly five-six separate cases against
these candidates according to the categories of services of selection, including the PCS, Judicial and
Executive, besides the block development officers (BDOs) selections. Earlier, in December 2009, the VB
had presented challan against eight candidates from the PCS (Judicial) services in a Patiala court. The
case, popularly known as PPSC scam, had caught the attention of the nation when currency notes had
tumbled out of the lockers of then chairman Ravi Sidhu, who had allegedly charged lakhs of rupees from
prospective candidates to ‘sell’ the seats of the prestigious PCS, Executive and Judicial services, among
others. It had also put at least two judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court under scanner because
of their alleged involvement in the case, following which the then chief justice of high court, Justice A B
Saharia, had also ordered an inquiry into their role. It was alleged that apart from money, Sidhu had also
recruited wards of some influential persons, following ‘strong recommendations’. The list of names
includes former PPSC member T C Gupta, whose son, Rahul Gupta, now serving as a PCS officer, was
one of the candidates. Both the father and son are being charged in the case. “These challans do not