The Hindu : New Delhi News : A setback to probe?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 30, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

A setback to probe?

By Prashant Pandey

NEW DELHI, APRIL 29 . Even as the Delhi police top brass maintained that the arrest of the Investigating Officer, Sub-Inspector Sanjay Gupta, of the Pre-Medical Test paper leak case by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly accepting bribe from the father of one of the accused would not affect the investigations, police officials say they will have to virtually start all over again.

As put a senior police official: "the paper leak case had a national significance and the Crime Branch had really been able to go deep into the racket. But the sudden absence of the IO would certainly affect the case". He added that the officer in question should have realised the gravity of the case and should have refrained from such behaviour.

The IO is one of the most important officers in the case as he is privy to lots of information and also acts as a coordinator. Replacing an officer who had been investigating the case for over a fortnight would be difficult for any new person taking up the job which, in turn, would slow down the progress.

The speed with which the investigations were progressing in the case could be gauged from the fact that beginning with two arrests on April 10, when the racket was first detected, the police had managed to arrest at least eight more persons within 14 days. Significant among them being the source of the leak, who turned out to be an employee of the Central Board of Secondary Education, and the official of Sachdeva New P.T. College, N.K. Thaplu. The coaching institute was allegedly involved in a big way in the paper leak with the Chairman Sudheer Sachdeva himself finalising the deal.

Earlier, according to sources, the case was to be transferred to the CBI after some initial investigations. However, the surrender of the two main accused, Ranjit Verma and Satinder, and other important arrests ensured that the case remained with the Delhi police.

Interestingly, it was Ranjit Verma, whose father complained to the CBI about the demand of bribe, who was questioned by the premier investigating agency in connection with the Common Admission Test paper leak -- allegedly mastermind by Ranjit Don -- detected last December. However, he was let off for lack of evidence.

Another SI escaped

It seems that apart from the Investigating Officer of the Pre-Medical Test paper leak case, Sub-Inspector Sanjay Gupta, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly demanding bribe from the family of one of the accused, there was another sub-inspector (SI) who managed to escape.

The CBI today said SI Sanjay Gupta, posted with the Crime Branch of the Delhi police, was arrested when he allegedly accepted bribe of Rs. 2 lakhs from the father of the main accused in the PMT leak, Ranjit Verma, here today.

However, police sources said another Sub-Inspector, Rajesh Kumar, was also present at the spot but managed to escape when the CBI team swooped down on the accused. Following the arrest, Rajesh Kumar has been missing, sources said. The Delhi police are said to be looking for him.

The CBI spokesperson, however, said he was not aware about the presence of anybody apart from the accused SI Sanjay on the spot.

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