Chandigarh, January 17
What started as a recruitment drive for junior basic trained teachers (JBT) in June 1999 by the then Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala, has exploded as a political bomb a decade later, shaking the foundation of politics in Haryana. The conviction of Chautala, his MLA son Ajay, two IAS officers and many others has come as a setback to the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and reinforced the belief that no one is above law.

But on the other hand the joy of the Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Haryana Janhit Congress may be short lived as the judgment pronounced by the CBI Judge Vinod Kumar is being seen as a weak one as it does not talk about any money exchanging hands. After going through the judgment, legal experts feel that it has bright chances of being stayed.

Irrespective of the fate of the appeal against the order, an important lesson in the arrest of the INLD leader and his close aides is that it will serve as a lesson to other politicians.

The INLD on the other hand has started exploiting the situation by telling people that Chautala has gone to jail for his own people. In private conversations Chautalas are being eulogised for taken a big risk by adjusting their “own people”.

How it happened

Chautala became the Chief Minister in 1999. The return to power of INLD raised expectations of the party workers and leaders. Chautala thought of a way to fulfill expectations of the INLD leaders and evolved a unique mechanism of recruitment of JBTs. Only those recommended by party MLAs and district presidents of the party were given jobs.

As per the CBI charge sheet, in September 1999 Chautala, who also held the portfolio of Education Minister through a Cabinet decision took away the recruitment from JBTs from the Haryana Staff Selection Commission and gave it to the Director Primary Education so that he could adjust “his own” people in these jobs.

Later, he asked the then Director Primary Education Rajni Sekhri Sibal to change the lists of candidates with his candidates, but she refused. She was offered five per cent of the money collected from the recruitment, but she refused and then sealed the lists in a cupboard by wrapping it with four metre cloth.

Just after the 1999 Parliamentary polls, the INLD found itself in a comfortable position and sought early Vidhan Sabha elections in 2000. The INLD got majority and came to power.

With a clear understanding, the Chief Minister appointed IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar as Director Primary Education and asked him to change the lists of candidates with those he recommended.

Sanjiv Kumar called District Education Officers to Delhi and Chandigarh and made them sign new lists. Since the earlier lists were to be destroyed without anyone coming to know of them, it is said that he got the cupboard cut from the back as it was sealed by Rajni Sekhri Sibal and took out the old lists from there. The result of 3,206 JBT teachers was declared based on false interviews. Letters were issued to these teachers and they are still in service now.

But in the meantime Sanjiv Kumar developed difference or various issues and to brow beat Sanjiv Kumar, Chautala ordered a vigilance inquiry against him.

IAS officer moved Supreme Court

Sanjiv went to the Supreme Court saying that Chautala wanted him to change lists but after he refused, therefore a false vigilance inquiry was ordered against him. Sanjiv Kumar told the SC that he prepared lists based on genuine interviews in December 1999, but he was made to prepare false lists in September 2000.

Meanwhile, the earlier selected JBT teachers also went to the SC saying both Sanjiv Kumar and Chautala were lying and the lists of selected candidates during the Bansi Lal regime had been changed.

The SC ordered a CBI inquiry in which Chautala, Sanjiv Kumar, Ajay Chautala and many others have been convicted of tampering with original selection list for various reasons other than just political ones.

New Delhi, January 17
It was a night that former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala would not forget for the rest of his life. The 78-year-old INLD chief, with his son Ajay Chautala and two IAS officers, on Wednesday was lodged in a small cell of the “high-risk” section at the Tihar Prisons.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday convicted them and 51 other officials and politicians for corruption, cheating and forgery in the recruitment of 3,032 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in 1999-2000, when Chautala was the Chief Minister of Haryana.

According to sources in the prison, Chautala spent a 'calm night' in his jail ward. He was brought to the prison at 5.30 pm on Wednesday.

“According to protocol, the jail staff first conducted his medical examination. They checked his blood pressure, sugar level, height, and weight and tried to determine if he has any infection or disease. When they found he has a clean medical record, they let him inside,” said the sources.

Chautala, who suffers from a limp, was provided a Tihar inmate as an aid, who is supposed to always be with him.

The former CM was taken to ward number 15 of Jail number 4. His son and the two IAS officers were lodged with him in a 15 feet long and 10 feet wide cell. It is the same ward where the Commonwealth Games scam accused and former Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi was kept.

Among the 51 other convicts, are 17 women who are lodged at jail number 6, while the 34 men are being kept at jail number 5, which has no cells.

The jail number 4 is under the “high-risk” category. It has the highest security for the inmates, as compared to the other eight jails in the Tihar Jail. The sources said the jail number 4 has a section for meditation, besides facilities for sports such as basketball and badminton.

Chautala and his three associates had no visitors. They ate their dinner at 8.30 pm. ‘Dal, roti and sabzi' came from their homes. It was mixed with the jail food and given to them. A towel, soap, and clothes for Chautala also came from his home, added the sources.

He watched television till 10.15 pm and by 10.30 pm he had retired for the night. He woke up at 6 am on Thursday and by 7 he had left for the court. 

Chandigarh,January 17
The Hooda Government is caught in a catch-22 situation on the fate of the 3,206 fraudulently-recruited JBT teachers in the state.

Though former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, his MLA son Ajay Chautala and 53 others have been convicted in the JBT scam, the Hooda Government is adopting a “wait and watch” policy vis-à-vis taking any decision on the fate of the JBT teachers.

Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal told The Tribune today that the state government was waiting for the final judgement from the court on the issue. “Since they have been working for the past 12 years, the government would seek a clarification from the court before initiating any action on the issue,” she added.

Official sources, however, asserted that any adverse decision on them is fraught with danger as the Hooda government was facing parliamentary and state assembly elections next year. “The removal of thousands of teachers will spell trouble for the Hooda government against the backdrop of the anti-incumbency factor in the forthcoming polls, ” a senior functionary of the state government said. He added that status quo seemed to be the best policy for the time being.

With the teachers’ union also throwing in its lot with the JBT teachers, the state will have a tough time in taking a final call on their appointments. General secretary of the Haryana Vidyalaya Adhyapak Sangh CN Bharti said en masse removal was not the right course of action for the government as many of them might have been recruited on merit. However, the state government could take a mid-way approach, such as checking the documents relating to the educational qualifications and experience, he added. 

Promotions put on hold

The Haryana government has put on hold the promotions of the JBT teachers in the wake of the convictions in the JBT scam. On September 27 last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the state government to give them benefits which were held back as their selection was challenged in court. Now, under the changed circumstances, the government would first seek a clarification from the court before promoting the eligible teachers, Geeta Bhukkal said.

Teacher’s take
The Delhi court verdict convicting Chautala and others has created a sense of uncertainty for us. This is particularly so for meritorious teachers like me, who have been recruited on merit and giving excellent results year after year.

— A JBT teacher, Ambala

Chandigarh, January 17
Bad days seem to have fallen on the Chautala clan, headed by former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. With a Delhi court yesterday convicting Chautala and his elder MLA son Ajay Chautala in the JBT teachers scam, it seems to be the beginning of troubles for the family as two more criminal cases cases, including a disproportionate assets case, are staring the family's face, putting a question mark over its electoral future.

The top brass of the INLD, which is the main opposition party in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, is at the receiving end of corruption allegations and job recruitment scams. While the former chief minister and his two sons - Ajay Chautala and Abhay Chautala - both Haryana MLAs, are undergoing trial in the disproportionate assets cases registered against them by the CBI in a Delhi court, Chautala senior and state INLD president Ashok Arora are accused in a case regarding the nomination of ineligible candidates to the prestigious Haryana Civil Service (HCS).

While the sentencing of OP Chautala and Ajay Chautala in the JBT recruitment scam may put a question mark over their contesting either the state assembly or parliamentary elections next year, adverse verdicts in the disproportionate assets and HCS nomination cases may spell more trouble for the Chautala family, which is considered to be a prominent Jat family in Haryana, particulary against the backdrop of Abhay Chautala also being an accused in one of the cases.

In the wake of the state assembly and parliamentary elections next year, the other political parties in the state are naturally seeing opportunity in INLD’s misery. Kuldeep Bishnoi, HJC supremo, claimed that the biggest gainer of INLD’s collapse would be the HJC-BJP alliance. The INLD was already on the downslide with the loss of Ajay Chautala against him in the 2009 Hisar Lok Sabha elections against me, Bishnoi claimed. In fact, Chautala’s conviction have put the reports of the impending BJP-INLD alliance to rest.

The ruling Congress is also in an upbeat mood as its leadership is of the opinion that a sizeable Jat vote bank would shift to the Congress from the INLD. However, given the factionalism in the Congress, the party which had been without a regular HPCC would have to put up a united front to take electoral advantage in the next year’s elections. The Congress would have to go beyond Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s “appease all” strategy.

The forthcoming Vidhan Sabha session of the Haryana Assembly beginning February 22 is set to be a lacklustre affair. In fact, if not granted bail by the higher court, the Vidhan Sabha will miss the Leader of the Opposition(OP Chautala) and Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Sher Singh Barshami). Chautala is known to enliven the Vidhan Sabha proceedings with his witty remarks and barbs against Hooda and Speaker Kuldeep Sharma.

Sirsa, January 17
Supporters of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala in Sirsa are trying to come to terms with the huge jolt they have suffered from the CBI court’s order convicting him and his son Ajay Singh Chautala in the JBT recruitment scam.

The supporters, who failed to understand the gravity of the situation after the news of conviction and subsequent arrest of their leaders came yesterday, have now started assessing the deal damage.

More than a hundred staunch supporters of the INLD moved towards Delhi in about 20 vehicles to be present during the court appearance of the father-son duo in the CBI court.

The party workers kept discussing among themselves various options available for their leaders once the court pronounces its judgment on the quantum of punishment on January 22.

They are also trying to assess the political fallout of the verdict.

They were also seen discussing the impending decision of the CBI court on the assets case in which Chautala’s younger son Abhey Singh Chautala is also facing trial along with Om Prakash Chautala and Ajay Singh Chautala.

“We only hope and pray that the sentence should be of less than three years so that they (Chautala and his son) are able to get bail immediately,” said an ardent supporter.

The verdict has disturbed the schedule of several projects in which the former Chief Minister or his son were to participate.

Ajay Singh Chautala was to inaugurate the building of Jan Nayak Chaudhary Devi Lal (JVD) College in Sirsa on January 21.

His spiritual guru Guruvanand Swami was supposed to hold religious ceremonies during this inauguration function.

The function stands postponed now.

On the same day, Om Prakash Chautala was to inaugurate a religious congregation by Gurvanand Swami in the local grain market and hoardings for this function are still installed all over the town.

There is still a doubt whether the congregation will be held as per schedule or whether it will be postponed. 

Faridabad, January 17
Even in the wake of an apparent crisis gripping the INLD, following conviction and arrest of its supremo and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son, Ajay Singh, the party’s state general secretary Ram Kumar Saini today said his party had a strong support base and the development would have no adverse impact on its prospects.

Saini, INLD’s in charge of Faridabad, said his party had dedicated cadres who would work with greater determination to strengthen the organisation for the next Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Haryana.

“The INLD, led by former patriarch late Tau Devi Lal, has come out from several crises in the past. It will do so again”, he added.

According to him, INLD workers would soon meet to work out a strategy to add vigour to the on-going political programme of the party.

Meanwhile, INLD functionaries were conspicuous by their absence here today. They left for Delhi in the morning to express solidarity with their beleaguered leader who appeared before the court. 

Sirsa, January 17
After the CBI court’s decision to convict former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Singh Chautala, MLA from Dabwali, in the JBT recruitment scam, their opponents in their home district Sirsa seem to have become active.

Some unknown persons defaced the photographs of the former Chief Minister and his son on hoardings installed near Sirsa grain market last night, by smearing black paint on their faces.

It is not clear who had defaced the photographs, as none has claimed it.

Some months back, former minister Gopal Kanda’s posters were defaced and even burnt in Sirsa and his supporters had blamed the INLD’s supporters for it.

“Whosoever has done this, the act reflects the cheap mindset of the doer,” said Padam Jain, district president of the INLD. 

Sirsa, January 17
Sirsa has attained a dubious distinction with three MLAs hailing from the district in jails.

While former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Singh Chautala, who hail from Chautala village of the district, are lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail for their involvement in the JBT recruitment scam after their conviction yesterday, Gopal Kanda, another MLA from Sirsa, is in the judicial custody in the Geetika Sharma suicide case.

Though OP Chautala represents Uchana constituency in the state assembly, he hails from Sirsa and has been contesting elections from the district for the past several decades.

Even in the 2009 assembly elections, Chautala contested from Ellenabad in Sirsa, along with Uchana, and after winning both seats he resigned from this seat to retain Uchana.

His younger son, Abhey Singh Chautala won the Ellenabad seat in a byelection held a few months later.

Ajay Singh Chautala, on the other hand, represents Dabwali assembly segment of Sirsa, the constituency that includes his native village Chautala.

Gopal Kanda, who won the Sirsa assembly seat as an independent candidate, has been in Tihar jail since August last year after Geetika Sharma, a former staffer of his MDLR Airlines, committed suicide and held him responsible for her extreme step.

Kanda was a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda cabinet at that time.

Chautala, being MLA from Uchana (Jind), two out of the five MLAs representing the five assembly segments of Sirsa are now in jail.

A decision on the disproportionate case pending against the Chautalas is also expected in the coming months. OP Chautala and both his sons are facing trial in that case being tried by the CBI Court in Delhi. 

Karnal, January 17
In a harrowing act of cruelty, two eunuchs and their companion were set ablaze in Kachwa village near here, allegedly by cohart drum beaters (dholkias). The accused locked the victims from outside, to ensure that they did not escape.

Sapna, one of eunuchs from West Bengal, who had come here to celebrate Lohri with her Guru Munnu Mishra said two drum beaters, Tasleem and Rizvan from Ghazibad, known to her Guru had also come to meet him.

Five persons, Munnu, Koyal, Ranjeet, Tasleem and Rizvan, were sleeping in one room while she was sleeping in the other room. At 3 am, Sapna heard shrieks from the other room and saw Munnu, Koyal and Ranjeet on fire while Taslem and Rijvan had fled.

She raised the alarm and the villagers broke open the door and rescued the victims.

The victims were rushed to the trauma centre at Civil Hospital, Karnal, with the help of police and given treatment. Later, all three were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Balaji hospital.

Dr Rakesh Mittal, who attended the patients, said Munnu was critical with 52 per cent burn injuries while Koyal and Ranjeet had 30- 40 per cent burn injuries on face, hands and other parts of the body.

DSP, Joginder Singh Rathi also visited the village and started investigations. A manhunt was launched to nab Tasleem and Rizvan and a case of attempt to murder was registered under sections 436, 342, 307 and 34 of IPC. The house was locked and the keys were handed over to chief eunuch Madhu at Traveri.

Sonepat, January 17
A rape victim and class X student of Kharkhoda town, who set herself on fire on January 11 at her home five days after she was allegedly raped by a youth, today succumbed to her injuries at PGIMS, Rohtak.

The 16-year-old girl, belonging to a Scheduled Caste, went missing on January 6 and when her mother quizzed her about disappearance, she revealed that their neighbour, Rakesh, a taxi driver, had abducted her and raped her before dropping her back the same day.

The girl sprinkled kerosene and set herself ablaze when she was alone at home and her mother had decided to lodge a complaint in the police. The victim was admitted to the PGIMS in a critical condition.

The police arrested the accused, also an SC, within hours of registration of case.

DSPBalbir Singh today said the rape victim had died of burn injuries and during police interrogation, the accused had confessed to his involvement in the rape of the victim. 

Gurgaon, January 17
Nothing seems to deter the increasing rate of crime against women in the city. A 32-year-old woman was allegedly thrashed, molested and robbed in a moving auto late last night. The victim, who had come to the city to withdraw her provident fund (PF) was found lying unconscious in an auto, in the area opposite Sector 52.

According to the police, it was around midnight when the PCR got a call, informing them about a woman lying in an auto abandoned in jungles in front of Sector 52.The woman was rushed to the Civil Hospital.

The woman, in her statement, said she was a resident of Noida and was working with a private company. She had come to the city to visit the PF department and had boarded an auto from IFFCO chowk.

“There were two more men, other than the driver, in the auto. I felt thirsty and asked the driver for water. After five minutes of drinking it I felt dizzy as if I had had alcohol. I could sense that they were taking me on a lonely road. They slapped me repeatedly and snatched my mobile and cash. They started molesting me and I screamed with all my force and fainted after that,” said the victim in her statement.

The police registered an FIR and arrested four youths of Wazirabad, identified as Raesh, Sunny, Pankaj and Sudhir, who have been sent to one-day police remand.

The incident highlights the unsafe public transport system, especially autos in the city, which are increasing in number daily due to the metro travelers. While there have been numerous plans to get the auto drivers verified but nothing concrete has happened so far.

“The auto wallas throng the metro stations and hound the passengers, especially the women. People have no choice but to go with them. We have repeatedly asked the associations to send us lists of auto drivers for verification but nothing has happened. We shall work it out soon,” said a senior police official.

Kurukshetra, January 17
A resident of Patti Jambra village has been duped of Rs 12 lakh on a false job promise. On a complaint of Surjeet Singh, the police had registered a case against Karam Singh, a resident of Mandehri village and Ashok Kumar, a resident Chandigarh.

Surjeet claimed that they had promised him a job in the Chandigarh Police and demanded Rs 12 lakh for it. They had neither provided him any job nor returned the money.