Vyapam Scam: High Court Quashes FIR Against Sonu Pachori

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The principal bench of the Jabalpur high court has quashed the FIR against Sonu Pachori in the multi-crore Vyapam scam, as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could not furnish any proof against him. The double bench of chief justice Suresh Kait and justice Vivek Jain passed the order.

The CBI opposed the application for quashing the FIR and argued that the present applicant had given the names of 13 candidates and Rs.40 lakh to accused Sanjeev Kumar Shilpkar.

The applicant arranged 13 pairs of scorers and candidates for racketeer Sanjeev Kumar Shilpkar, the CBI said, adding that the applicant was alleged to be a middleman like the case relating to PMT-2012.

On behalf of the applicant, it was argued that the present case was also based on surmises and conjectures against the applicant because there was no allegation of handing over of money by or to the petitioner and there was no allegation that the present petitioner accepted any money from the candidates or he handed over any money to Sanjeev Kumar Shilpkar or that he brokered any deal either with Sanjeev Kumar Shilpkar or with Vyapam officials in the matter.

Therefore, there was no prima facie case against the present applicant (Sonu Pachori) to connect him with the alleged offence because neither had any money been recovered nor any transactions in the bank account of the present applicant disclosed during the course of investigation which could connect the applicant with the crime of malpractices in the examination.