IELTS Scam: Court orders probe by ‘honest' officer
Ahmedabad: A sessions court in Mehsana district rejected a closure report, which was accepted by a magisterial court, and ordered the state DGP to have the investigation conducted by "an honest and competent" police officer into the alleged
IELTS scam
.The scam was uncovered, and an FIR was filed in 2022 after four youths were caught crossing the Canada-US border.
When they were produced in a US court and questioned, they expressed their inability to understand English and sought the help of translators.
They officially cleared the
International English Language Testing System
(IELTS), required to study abroad. This incident led the US Consulate General here to bring the alleged malpractice to the police authorities' attention. He cited a news report published in TOI in May 2022 about the prevalent malpractice in securing IELTS bands.Following a preliminary inquiry, an FIR was lodged with the Mehsana B Division police station against 45 persons.
The investigation was conducted by deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Dinesh Chauhan, who filed a B summary (closure report) in a judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) court in April 2023 on the grounds of insufficient evidence in this case.
The JMFC court on Oct 9, 2024, accepted the closure report.Then, Mehsana superintendent of police, Achal Tyagi, objected to this development, and the police challenged the summary report before a sessions court, where the district govt pleader Vijay Barot pointed out an inadequate probe by the investigator and urged the court to transfer the investigation to the CBI in the interest of justice.DySP Chauhan hired a private lawyer to defend his decision to close the case and strongly opposed the prosecution's bid to reopen the investigation by getting the closure report quashed.After hearing the case, additional sessions judge Chirag Pawar rued the situation where the public prosecutor, who was representing the police, sought a CBI probe. "It is required to be noted that district govt pleader is representing the police agency of state in the court of law and therefore, if he has lost faith in the police agency of the state of Gujarat then that would be a very sorry state of affairs, which needs to be viewed very seriously."The court did not accept the demand for a CBI probe, citing jurisdiction limitations. "However, having considered the seriousness of the offence which involved
illegal migration
of youth from state of the Gujarat to the foreign countries without qualifying necessary IELTS examination and without fulfilling necessary criteria for obtaining visa of foreign countries, the present revision application is required to be allowed by sending the case back to the trial court for passing appropriate order…", the court order reads.The sessions court has sent the matter back to the JMFC court for passing appropriate order of sending "the case to the Director General of Police of the Gujarat State for appointing honest and competent police officer to the rank of police inspector or DySP for making further investigation of the case on all the aspects within specific time and also to inquire into the aspect that why DySP Dinesh Chauhan submitted 'B' summary report without obtaining sanction and approval of higher authority," the order stated.
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