JOIN USAn IAS officer, who is a relative of Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, was not "playing in the hands" of Congress party to fix its political rival Om Prakash Chautala convicted in the teachers recruitment scam, a Delhi court said today.
Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar, who held today Chautala, his MLA son Ajay Chautala and 53 others guilty of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in the state in 2000, dismissed the contentions of the defence counsel who had claimed that IAS officer Rajni Shekri Sibal, a CBI witness in the case, was testifying falsely as she was a close relative of Kapil Sibal and had links with the Congress leaders.
"I have considered these submissions and I disagree. Had she (Sibal) been playing in the hands of Congress leaders, nothing stopped her from directly implicating the CM. She was an officer senior enough having an opportunity to meet the CM off and on....Furthermore, the witness (Sibal) is not eager to falsely implicate anyone," the judge said.
"Therefore, the allegation against her that she is playing in the hands of the Congress leaders namely Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kapil Sibal does not hold," the judge said.
During the trial, the counsel appearing for former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala had alleged that Sibal was "playing in the hands" of Hooda, the present chief minister of the state and a political rival of his client.
The court, however, held that the witness has not falsely implicated anyone in the case.
"I am of the opinion that she is not only a truthful witness but I find that she was the only person, who had enough courage to withstand the political pressures exerted upon them. Rest of the bureaucrats closed their eyes, turned their faces, crawled before the political bosses and many cooperated and aided in execution of the conspiracy," the judge said.
The court convicted all the accused for the offences under various sections of the IPC and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court said that soon after taking the JBT selection out of the purview of the Staff Selection Commission, the interview marks of the candidates were increased by O P Chautala from 12.5 per cent to 20 per cent.
But, their plan could not succeed due to prevailing political situation where he was running a government in coalition with others, it said.
The court also dismissed the contention of the defence counsel who had claimed that IAS officer Rajni Shekri Sibal, a CBI witness in the case, was testifying falsely as she was a close relative of Kapil Sibal and had links with leaders of Congress party.
Similarly, the court also rejected the contention of the defence counsel that other prosecution witnesses, including bureaucrats, were deposing falsely at the instance of the Congress Party.
The judge also said the CBI's investigation in the case was not biased against any of the accused for any reasons including the "political" one.
The court, however, agreed with the submissions of defence counsel Amit Kumar that the signatures of his clients, who were members of district level selection committee, were taken on the award lists by "putting pressure, threatening them of depriving them from their pension benefits, transferring them or their wives, children and relatives to far off places, etc.
The court also accepted that Sanjiv Kumar was a whistle blower in the case because if he had not approached the Supreme Court and had not filed the original award lists there, this scam would have never come into light.
It, however, said that during investigation the CBI found him to be a "comrade in crime".