Srinagar: The High Court has extended by three months the bail to former chairman Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE), Mushtaq Ahmad Peer, who was sentenced to 16 years of rigorous imprisonment for his involvement in the 2012 infamous Common Entrance Test (CET) paper scam.
A division bench of Justices Ali Muhammad Magrey and Muhammad Akram Chowdhary while extending the bail to Peer said: “The applicant (Peer) will remain on bail in continuation of order dated December 30, 2021, for a further period of three months subject to conditions that he should submit a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the incharge Superintendent Jail.”
The court said Peer should not leave the country without prior permission of it.
He was also told to inform the jail authorities about his visits, if any, to be made outside J&K.
“On the expiry of the bail period, the applicant should surrender himself before the jail authorities without fail,” the court said.
In April 2018, a special anti-corruption court Srinagar sentenced Peer to 16 years of rigorous imprisonment for his involvement in the 2012 CET scam.
The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Peer and Rs 50 lakh on another accused, Sajad Ahmad Bhat, who was acting as a broker in the scam.
The court had sentenced Peer to seven years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 420 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), five years of imprisonment under Section 5 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, three years of imprisonment under Section 409 of the RPC and one year of imprisonment under Section 120 B of the RPC.
It had ordered that all the sentences would run “consecutively”.
The court had convicted 43 accused, including Peer, in the case, while it acquitted seven others.