Under HC lens, it’s business as usual at coaching academy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 27

A day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court sought to know the role of Jurist Academy, Chandigarh, in the Haryana Civil Services (Judicial) paper leak case, it was business as usual at the coaching centre.

Set up around 2008-09, the academy has around 200 students taking coaching for the common law admission test (CLAT) and tests for the judiciary and additional district attorneys. Aspirants kept coming to the academy to enquire about the fee structure and the timings of the classes on Friday.

Two accused in the case, Sunita and Sushila, were students at the academy.

According to a report published in these columns on July 26, a five-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justice Rajan Gupta, Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Arun Palli asked UT Administration counsel Randeep Singh Rai whether the questions asked by the academy from the candidates were the same as the ones in the examination; and whether the director of the academy was the same person convicted and sentenced to three years in a corruption case.

Upset over the name of the academy having cropped up in the High Court proceedings, the head of academy, Surinder Bhardwaj, said, “We are not involved anywhere. We have undergone investigations, first by the Registrar General of the High Court and then by the Chandigarh Police. We have faith in the system. The accused, Sushila and Sunita, never contacted us to know the answers of the leaked question paper.” He said, “We are ready for any further investigations. Not a single call has been exchanged between me and the accused women.”

“Even the petitioner in the HC, Suman, is our student. She has never levelled any allegation against us. Had she got any help from the academy for the exam, she would have mentioned it in the court. The biggest proof I have is that my nephew appeared for the exam but failed,” he said.

The police have called Bhardwaj three or four times in the case. He had also got his statement recorded under Section 164, CrPC, before a magistrate, claiming that Sunita and Sushila were average students. 

Another accused in the case is former Registrar (Recruitment) Balwinder Sharma, with whom Sunita had exchanged 760 calls and SMSes. Local Congress leader Sunil Kumar, alias Titu, Ayushi and Sunita’s brother Kuldeep were also arrested in the case.

Who is Surinder Bhardwaj

“We are being dragged because of our past,” said Surinder Bhardwaj, head of the academy. A former Chandigarh Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Bhardwaj was sentenced to three-year rigorous imprisonment in 2009 for taking a bribe of Rs 7 lakh in 2003 from a medical practitioner for securing bail in a case of causing death by medical negligence. Former District and Sessions Judge of Jalandhar RM Gupta was also named in the case, but he was acquitted. The appeal in the case is pending before the High Court.  

Can’t disclose anything, says SIT head

Asked about the role of Jurist Academy, SP Ravi Kumar, who is heading the SIT, said he could not disclose anything and would only inform the court. “It is a sensitive matter,” he said.

Timeline

July 16, 2017  Exam for 109 HCS (Judicial) posts held

Sept 19, 2017  FIR registered in which three persons were booked for paper leak. Sunita, one of the beneficiaries, arrested

Dec 28, 2017  Registrar (Recruitment) Balwinder Sharma arrested by the police 

Jan 5, 2018  Special investigation team of the Chandigarh Police files first chargesheet

July 25, 2018  High Court expands the three-Judge Bench to a five-Judge Bench for monitoring the probe