Suspended over an attack on Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq earlier this month, the former superintendent of Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal Central Jail, Rajini Sehgal, has been booked also in a case of examination malpractice. The former superintendent of Jammu’s Amphalla Jail, Vinod Kumar, has also been booked in the same criminal case for facilitating an undertrial to appear on Ms. Sehgal’s behalf in a post-graduate examination conducted by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) at Amphalla Jail last year.
Kot Bhalwal Jail, according to informed sources, had been selected as a centre for the IGNOU examination in June 2012. Since Ms. Sehgal wanted to appear as a candidate, the centre was shifted to Amphalla Jail after an understanding with IGNOU authorities. In collusion with Mr. Kumar, Ms. Sehgal picked an educated undertrial Paramjit Singh Salathia, who is facing murder charges, and motivated him to write the examination for her, it is alleged.
However, co-prisoner Ravinder Singh filed a complaint against the two jail superintendents before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Jammu after he spotted Mr. Salathia impersonating for Ms. Sehgal. The sources said IGNOU notified the results and declared Ms. Sehgal passed although a complaint was pending with the court.
The sources told The Hindu that after a few months of hearing, the CJM directed the police to register a criminal case against Ms. Sehgal and others who had allegedly helped her.
On Thursday, the Pacca Danga police booked Ms. Sehgal, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Salathia under Sections 120B, 115, 419, 420, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code besides Sections 511 and 2/5 of the Prevention of Unfair Means Examination Act, 1987.
Wife of a district and sessions judge, Ms. Sehgal, according to the sources, could be arrested during investigation. She was suspended as the superintendent of Kot Bhalwal Jail after an Indian prisoner carried out the fatal attack on Haq on May 3. Mr. Kumar retired as superintendent of Amphalla Jail on March 31 this year.
