Srinagar, November 23
Mushtaq Peer, former Chairman of the Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE), was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Crime Branch today. He has been charged with illegal sale of Common Entrance Test (CET) papers.

“He (Peer) has been arrested on the charge of illegally selling examination papers to agents,” said Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gilani, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Crime. Peer has been booked under Section 420 of the penal code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, Gilani said. He is under custody at the Kashmir Crime Branch office at Raj Bagh.

Peer, who has been questioned for three days this week, came under the scanner of the investigation agency when the Crime Branch nabbed a south Kashmir resident acting as a “conduit” between the former chairman and candidates. The conduit, Farooq Ahmad Itoo, who has turned “approver”, told investigators that he bought CET-2012 papers from Peer for Rs 60 lakh and sold them to eight candidates.

Crime Branch sleuths raided Peer’s residences at Srinagar and Jammu early this week and seized documents containing details about his properties at several locations, including New Delhi.

Peer’s post-retirement contractual appointment as a consultant with the state government was terminated days before the scam became public. Crime Branch sleuths have also questioned several candidates, who are believed to have bought papers through Itoo.

The BOPEE conducts several examinations every year, including selection tests for MBBS, MD, BDS, BE, BVSc, BAMS, BUMS and diploma courses. Around 25,000 students take the CET for a few hundred seats in medical and engineering colleges every year.