A special CBI court in Panchkula has discharged Pawan Gupta, the then controller of examinations at Chaudhary Bansi Lal University (CBLU), in a case related to “irregularities” in the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) exams. In the order passed on January 30, a copy of which was uploaded on the official website on Monday, the court stated that there were no sufficient grounds to proceed against Gupta.
The state vigilance bureau had registered the FIR under Section 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in Panchkula in November 2021 on the complaint of one Narender from Hisar. Among those booked were Jasbir Singh, owner of M/s Safedot e-Solutions Private Limited in Sector 11 of Panchkula and Naveen from Bhiwani district for allegedly taking bribes to fraudulently secure the selection of candidates in various HPSC exams, including those related to dental surgeon recruitment and Haryana Civil Services (HCS) preliminary exam. Later, Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 420, 466, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC were added.
The bureau filed its first chargesheet in January 2022 under the Prevention of Corruption Act, IPC provisions and Section 8(3) and (4) of the Haryana Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2021, against Anil Nagar, Ashwani Sharma and Naveen.
In August 2022, a supplementary chargesheet was filed, naming Pawan Gupta while alleging his involvement in facilitating the selection of five candidates in the dental surgeon examination of 2021. It was alleged that he had forwarded the roll numbers of the candidates to co-accused Ashwani Kumar Sharma through WhatsApp. Gupta was arrested on June 9, 2022.
{{/usCountry}}In August 2022, a supplementary chargesheet was filed, naming Pawan Gupta while alleging his involvement in facilitating the selection of five candidates in the dental surgeon examination of 2021. It was alleged that he had forwarded the roll numbers of the candidates to co-accused Ashwani Kumar Sharma through WhatsApp. Gupta was arrested on June 9, 2022.
{{/usCountry}}According to the prosecution, the accused allegedly collected ₹40–50 lakh per candidate for HCS and ₹30–40 lakh per candidate for the dental surgeon exam.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court held that there were no sufficient grounds to proceed against Gupta. His counsel Deepanshu Bansal argued that his client was not named in the FIR and that no direct or indirect evidence linked him to the alleged offence.
The defence further submitted that no recovery was made from Gupta and that none of the witnesses examined under Sections 161 and 164 CrPC had named him.
The court observed that even though WhatsApp chats had been retrieved by a forensic expert and printouts were submitted with the forensic report, the mandatory certificate under Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act was not produced.
The court further noted that even if the WhatsApp messages were considered, the mere forwarding of roll numbers to a co-accused, without any evidence of demand or acceptance of bribe, did not constitute an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act or the IPC.
It also observed that nothing was recovered from Gupta during the investigation and that his disclosure statement, recorded while he was in police custody, did not lead to the discovery of any new fact under Section 27 of the Evidence Act.