Court denies bail to student in certificate case

MUMBAI: Fearing that he would make himself unavailable during the trial, a sessions court has rejected the bail plea of a medical student arrested for submitting fake caste certificates to secure admissions under the quota meant for candidates belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes.
The court refuted 23-year-old Grant Medical College student Karan Purohit's defence that it was at the instance of his family and relatives that he had submitted the documents provided to him.The court also rejected the plea of the alleged middleman Rashid Kadri, who had taken Purohit to prime accused Dr Abdul Mirza, who in turn took Rs 15 lakh for the forged caste certificate that secured the admission.
On August 11, the JJ Marg police registered a case of cheating and forgery against nine students for securing admission to the MBBS course with fake caste certificates. The other students include Israr Qadri, Avais Khan, Akhef Reshamwala, Areeba Khan, Noman Mansuri, Ayesha Reshmanwala, Maria Shaikh and Taiba Shaikh.
While other students got anticipatory bail, Purohit's pre-arrest bail application was rejected. He moved the Bombay High Court but withdrew the plea on September 14 and sought permission to surrender. But he did not comply and was eventually arrested. Referring to this in the bail plea, Purohit had claimed that the surrender was delayed since he was seeking legal opinion. Refuting this argument, the court said, “For two months he remained away from the process of law inspite a submission before the Honourable High Court that he would surrender. In the event of his release on bail, the possibility of his not appearing to face the trial can't be ruled out,“ court said.
Rejecting Kadri's plea, the judge said the possibility of him committing a similar offence in the event of his release on bail cannot be ruled out. “He was inducing poor children desirous of higher studies to seek admission on the basis of false caste certificates. He had arranged the false caste certificates for the purpose of securing such admissions,“ the court said. It further pointed out that the investigation is still in progress and if released both accused could tamper with the evidence.
The court said that Kadri was instrumental in taking Purohit to the prime accused Mirza for getting the false caste certificate prepared for securing admission at Grant Medical College for Rs 15 lakh. This the court said showed a prima facie offence has been made out against him.
As many as 17 students from various colleges were recently expelled for submitting fake certificates. Nine of them had got admission in the state-run Grant Medical College attached to JJ Hospital. The nine students had claimed they belonged to tribal villages in Nandurbar. The Directorate of Medical Education and Research subsequently asked for the scrutiny of all documents submitted to get admission under the SC/ST quota.