8 named in fresh CBI charge sheet in NIOS exam fraud

Bhopal, Feb 17 (IANS) The CBI has named eight people in its second supplementary charge sheet presented before a special court here in connection with a case regarding alleged irregularities during the secondary and senior secondary examinations conducted by NIOS in April 2017, the probe agency said on Wednesday.

The CBI informed the court that large number of students, who did not even appear in the examinations conducted for class 10 and 12 at the three examination centres were declared as passed by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) - a board of education under the Education Ministry which conducted the exams. Sehore, Ratlam and Umaria in Madhya Pradesh were among those examination centres where these malpractices were noticed.

It was alleged that the accused committed forgery and manipulation in the attendance sheets of the examination centres and answer sheets of the students.

The CBI investigation revealed further evidence in the form of used answer sheets of students, who appeared in the examinations, and unused answer sheets of absent students were destroyed by the accused involved in the scam.

The agency further clarified that the findings are based on the investigation done by its officials and evidence collected by them. "Under Indian law, the accused are presumed to be innocent till their guilt is finally established after a fair trial."

The CBI registered the case on July 23, 2018. It later filed a charge sheet against two people on May 13, 2019 after investigation.