Jammu and Kashmir Police crime branch has formally registered a case against son of a senior Congress leader and minister for public enterprises for using fraudulent means to pass a board exam held in 2009.

Sources told Deccan Herald that the case has been registered against Imam Sauban, foster son of Peerzada Sayeed, who had passed his class 10 exam in 2009 with the help from some Board of School Education officials, after a preliminary inquiry conducted by the crime branch.

They said there was enough evidence against Imam and a case has been registered against him. Senior Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Syed Aashiq Hussain Bukhari confirmed that an FIR under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 120B RPC 5/2 Corruption Act has been registered against the accused.

The minister’s son had allegedly made some BOSE officials write his papers. Crime branch sources said after the completion of inquiry, it has been established that Urdu, Mathematics and Geography papers are with dual handwriting.

“The answer sheets were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Srinagar to ascertain as to who has corrected these wrong answers. The FSL provided a report wherein it is stated that the handwriting on the Geography and Mathematics papers is of Deputy Superintendent Imtiyaz Asghar Bijal and handwriting on Urdu paper is of Deputy Director (Academics) BOSE, Mehraj-u-Din Zargar,” they said on Saturday.

A senior police officer said since the revelations made by the FSL were embarrassing for the minister and the government as a whole, the crime branch prepared a detailed report and sent it directly to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

When contacted, Peerzada distanced himself from the controversy. “The chief minister has said on the floor of Assembly that I am not involved in this matter anyhow or anywhere. Though he (foster son) is related to me but he is not my son,” he said.

“If anything fishy has happened, let law take its own course. If somebody commits wrong, how can I be blamed for it?” the minister asked.

It may be recalled that a local newspaper in 2012 had brought to fore the rot in state’s educational system by exposing how the Peerzada, then education minister, in connivance with the officials of BOSE had helped his son qualify the matriculation examination through unfair means in 2009.