Crime branch report indicts Peerzada

JAMMU: Education minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed has reportedly been indicted in the crime branch report in securing the help of the officials of his department to get help his son, Imran Sauban, clear two papers of Class 10 exams in 2009.

The crime branch IGP submitted its report to the chief minister on Wednesday after completion of the seven-day time limit set by the chief minister on January 30. The chief minister had ordered an inquiry after taking cognisance of the report published in a Kashmir-based local daily.

Though IGP wasn’t available for comments despite repeated attempts, according to sources, the report had established the role of the minister in directing officials of the education department to help his son clear the exam.

The report had stated that officials of the education department had written two papers of minister’s son. And it also revealed that just before the exams, the education minister’s son was migrated to another school to secure a “favourable” exam centre from him.

After the submission of the report by the IGP, the education minister along with public health engineering (PHE) minister Taj Mohiuddin called on chief minister Omar Abdullah in his office in the secretariat.

Both Peerzada and Taj had earlier attended the cabinet meeting held in the afternoon. Taj, who had created flutter in the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) by stating that Omar will remain in office for another three year, has also been accused of indulging in corrupt practice by state congress leader and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil.

Acccording to sources, Peerzada told the chief minister that an attempt was being do defame him, which is clearly established by the fact that media report had appeared twoyear after the incident.

Sources said the chief minister would hold consultation with the cabinet colleague and senior leaders of the Congress party in Delhi before taking any decision. The chief minister in all likelihood would take decision within days, as the assembly session is starting at the end of the month and opposition will take up this issue to embarrass the government.

Earlier in 2010, another state minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori of the Congress party had to quit for alleged impersonation in the entrance examination for getting his daughter admitted to a medical college.