Paper leak case: Karnataka High Court refuses to discharge RGUHS ex-registrar

Bengaluru: The High Court has refused to discharge Dr V I Hukkeri, former registrar of RGUHS, in the PGET-2006 question paper leak case.

However, the court has ordered the discharge of one Mekhala Dwarakanath, a candidate, on the grounds of polygraph and brain mapping test reports, that had absolved her and also the documents showing that she was a brilliant student.

The PGET was conducted on February 12, 2006, and the case was subsequently handed over to the CBI. The CBI had filed a charge sheet on July 28, 2008, against 20 persons, including candidates as well as the officials.

The petitioner, Dr V I Hukkeri, had contended that there was no prior sanction obtained from the competent authority, as he was a public servant at the relevant time. He had approached the High Court after the CBI special court rejected his application seeking discharge by a common order dated January 27, 2020.

The court rejected the plea about the want of sanction either under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act or under CrPC Section 197. Justice M Nagaprasanna noted that criminal conspiracy was alleged on account of fraudulent transaction of question papers and gaining access to the question papers which has led to few candidates securing high marks.

"These are the acts alleged against the petitioner. I fail to understand as to what nexus, the acts of the petitioner of playing fraud on the University, in connivance with the students, to hatch a criminal conspiracy in exchange for huge sums of money would be in the discharge of official duties. These are the allegations against the petitioner which form a part of the charge sheet," the court said.

While allowing the petition filed by Mekhala Dwarakanath, the court noted that the opinion of the polygraph examination is that the petitioner is not deceptive in response was truthful in her statement and did not have the knowledge about the crime under reference.

"The petitioner has produced several documents to demonstrate that she has been a good student throughout, secured above average marks and has been a recipient of several encomiums from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of United Kingdom,” the court said.