Move trial court for bail: SC to Jai Narain Vyas University teacher recruitment scam accused

JODHPUR: Five accused in the Jai Narain Vyas (JNV) University teacher recruitment scam received a jolt when the Supreme Court declined to pass any order on their bail pleas and directed them to approach a trial court for the same, on Tuesday.
The accused were expecting an order similar to the one granted to co-accused, the university’s former vice-chancellor B S Rajpurohit, a day earlier.Hearing a contempt petition, a division bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman had ordered immediate release of Rajpurohit against a bail bond of Rs 50,000 and some other conditions on Monday.
On Tuesday, the same division bench, however, directed the remaining five accused to approach the trial court concerned for bails. Besides Rajpurohit, others arrested by the ACB in the recruitment scam included former Congress MLA Jugal Kabra, teachers D S Khnchi, S S Sharma and D S Chundawat, and university clerk Keshvan.
Additional Advocate General Shiv Mangal Sharma said, “The supreme court declined to grant bail to the five accused and directed them to approach the trial court for it.”
Counsel for the accused, Aishwarya Bhati said the apex court has ordered the trial court to hear our bail applications on the same day. “The main petition by the ACB would now be heard on February 1 for final arguments,” she said.
The accused’s plea for a stay on the charge-sheet to be filed the ACB was also rejected by the Supreme Court. The ACB was, in fact, directed to proceed with the investigations and file the charge-sheet within a week.
The ACB released Rajpurohit on Tuesday afternoon in compliance with the apex court’s order of Monday. The ACB further recommended suspension of one professor and one clerk who are in its custody.
SP (ACB) Ajay Pal Lamba said that both the accused were in service and considering the evidences against them in the scam, the ACB has sent a recommendation to the university to suspend them.
The ACB tightened its noose against the suspects too, including the scam’s beneficiaries, who are said to be more than 30 in numbers. Besides them, seven professors and deans of the university are suspected to be involved in the scam.
Lamba said the ACB was constantly searching for the suspects but none of them were traceable. They were being constantly summoned for interrogation but none of them turned up so far, said Lamba.