National Conference (NC) leaders Friday demanded a probe into the medical professional entrance exam paper leak racket by a sitting judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
In a signed statement, senior leaders of the ruling NC said, "A comprehensive probe by a sitting judge of the state high court should be held into the affairs of the Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) ever since its inception with special reference to leakage of question papers pertaining to postgraduate medical entrance examination 2003, shielding of officers instrumental in carrying out the fraud and withholding the names of beneficiaries concerned at the behest of the highest authority in the government at that time."
"The fraud was a part of a well conceived conspiracy hatched by someone at the top to benefit favourites at the cost of the career of meritorious candidates and the whole gambit of issues should be probed into by a sitting judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court."
While welcoming the swift action taken by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the complaint with regard to the paper leak in 2012, the leaders expressed satisfaction that the investigations were on the right track and hoped the guilty will be punished soon.
The leaders said thorough scanning of BOPEE will unravel the truth about who were the people and who were their abettors in the crime which jeopardised the chances of talented candidates in various professional examinations.
"Since the issue relates to young people, morality demands that justice should be done by exposing the culprits," the leaders said.
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Referring to the 2003-04 postgraduate medical scam, the leaders expressed surprise over the way the names of the beneficiaries were kept under wraps so that the real actors don't get exposed. In this process, the well meaning, sincere and upright officers were sidelined to remove the bottlenecks in the way of executing the sinister plan.
They said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have a right to know the truth and see the guilty exposed and punished for the crime they perpetrated to block the future of enterprising professionals in medicine.
They sought exemplary punishment for the perpetrators which will serve as a deterrent for wrongdoers in the future.
Signatories to the statement included former ministers Govind Ram Sharma, Syed Mushtaq Bukhari and Babu Ram Paul besides NC vice president Rattan Lal Gupta, provincial secretary Sheikh Bashir Ahmad, former legislators Kashmira Singh, Bushan Lal Bhat, Satpal Lakhotra, Jugal Mahajan, Vijay Laxmi Dutta and others.