Jammu, August 24
The police today booked seven aspirants for the Combined Entrance Test (CET) for the MBBS/BDS courses, including a daughter of Congress Minister G.M Saroori and a son of former National Conference (NC) Minister Ram Pal, on a charge of fraud and criminal conspiracy in the impersonation case.

Though sources claimed that the case had been handed over to the CBI for further investigation, neither any senior bureaucrat nor any police officer confirmed this.

When contacted, Chief Secretary SS Kapur feigned ignorance, saying he was yet to look into the matter. “I have to look into it. It is a local matter. Please confirm about it from the police.”

However, Hilal Azhar Mahmood, in-charge, Nehru Market police post, who is investigating the case said:“All aspirants have been booked under the Ranbir Penal Code and efforts are on to arrest them. So far, we have not received any information or order to hand over the case to the CBI.”

The police after receiving the record from the authorities of Acharya Shri Chandra College of Medical Science (ASCOMS), Sidhra, yesterday verified the names of Huma Tabassum, daughter of G.M Saroori, and Lovish Bharat, son of Ram Pal and others, and registered a criminal case against all seven aspirants.

Sources said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah after returning from Ajmer held a meeting in this regard and directed the police to take swift action.

They further said police investigations had confirmed that another girl had appeared in the examination for Saroori’s daughter and to ensure a fair probe, Omar decided to hand over the case to CBI.

Sources said a letter would be sent asking the premier investigating agency to take over the case from the Jammu police. They added this was necessary as only the central agency could conduct an impartial inquiry. After the development, the sources added, Saroori could even be asked to resign.

As per records submitted by the ASCOMS to the police, Huma is a resident of 23-A, Government Quarters, opposite Madaan Hospital, Gandhi Nagar, and Lovish Bharat is a resident of Rehari. Till the filing of this report, none of the aspirants had been arrested.