A special court in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday framed charges against eight accused, including Hurriyat leader Zaffar Bhat, in a case connected to selling Pakistani MBBS seats to Kashmiri students against huge payments.
The charges were framed against the accused in the Court of Special Judge Designated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA). While six accused in the case have already been arrested, two against whom the charges were framed are currently residing in Pakistan.
The FIR (No 05/2020) was registered in police station Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) on receipt of information through reliable sources that several unscrupulous persons including some Hurriyat leaders were hand in glove with some educational consultancies and were selling Pakistan-based MBBS seats and seats in other professional courses in various colleges and universities, had registered a case in July 2020.
“Huge amount of money was received in lieu of such admission from the parents of the students, and the money so earned was ploughed into supporting terrorism in J&K,” the FIR reads.
The State Investigation Agency (SIA) searched the houses of accused persons during which documents and other material were seized which after analysis revealed that deposits in the account(s) of accused persons were made on account of providing admissions in various technical and professional course in Pakistan including MBBS, the investigation revealed.
“During the course of investigation statement of witnesses were recorded and on the basis of other evidence collected it surfaced that the admissions in MBBS and other professional courses in Pakistan was preferentially given to those students who were close family member/relative of killed terrorists on the recommendations of Hurriyat leaders and received by their counterparts in Pakistan,” it said
“It was on the recommendations of Hurriyat that authorities in Pakistan provided admission in the professional colleges to the next of kins (NOK’s) of a killed terrorist as a compensation to boost morale and keep the pot of terror boiling in the valley and infuse a new spirit into the terror fold,” it added.
It was further established during the investigation that a part of a larger conspiracy accused persons through different valley-based consultancies without their knowledge used to motivate the gullible parents of students aspiring for professional courses especially for MBBS to apply through these consultancies for such courses in Pakistan with the assurance of cost-effectiveness in comparison with other south Asian or middle east countries offering such courses, the investigation revealed.
Recently, the Medical Council of India declared that any Indian student who wishes to pursue MBBS, BDS or any other equivalent medical degree from Pakistan shall not be eligible to appear for FMGE or seek employment in India on the basis of the educational qualifications gained from Pakistan universities.
Sources said wards of several high profile persons in Kashmir have pursued MBBS in Pakistani medical colleges in last more than a decade. Some of the reportedly include a son of the head of the department in the urology department of SKIMS hospital, a deceased government officer’s ward and the ward of a police officer.