22 sentenced to imprisonment for selling Punjab School Education Board fake certificates

Our Correspondent

Abohar, August 8

The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Sriganganagar has sentenced 22 convicts to two years imprisonment in a case related to the sale of fake mark sheets and certificates by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB). The case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Official sources said that Kashmir Singh, Surinder Singh, Malkiat Singh, Gurpal Singh, Paramjit Singh, Khushwinder Singh, Chander Singh, Krishan Kumar Bishnoi, Baldev Singh (son of Mohar Singh), Gurjinderpal Singh, Pankaj Chopra, Hargurnath Singh, Mukesh Kumar Garg, Mandeep Singh, Rajpal Singh, Manjeet Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Harvinder Singh, Balbir Singh, Kewal Singh, Baldev Singh (son of Jeet Singh), and Jasmat Singh were sentenced to two years imprisonment along with a fine.

The CBI took over the case on October 30, 1997. Based on a complaint, a case was earlier registered vide FIR No. 301/1996 at Sadar Police Station at Sriganganagar. It was alleged that the suspects defrauded the complainants by allegedly selling forged or fake mark sheets and certificates from the PSEB.

The CBI filed the charge sheet against 25 suspects on April 21, 1999. Charges were formally framed against the accused in court in 2003. After the completion of the hearing, the court convicted 22 suspects and awarded punishment. The trial was stopped against two other accused after their deaths, while one accused was acquitted by the court because he was a minor.

Credible evidence presented by the CBI team was upheld by the court.