Convicted in 17-yr-old case,Masood may lose RS seat

The court held Masood,then union health minister,guilty of colluding with then resident commissioner of Tripura,Gurdial Singh,to help six students gain illegal admission to medical colleges. Special CBI Judge J P S Malik also convicted IAS officer Amit Kumar Roy,then secretary to the chief minister of Tripura,for getting five other students admitted. Masood,Singh and Roy were convicted of criminal conspiracy,cheating and forgery under the IPC,and of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act. They will be sentenced October 1. Two other accused then Tripura CM Sudhir Ranjan Majumdar and then health minister Kashi Ram Reang died while the trial lumbered on.

The seats in question had been allotted to Tripura from the central pool since the state did not have a medical college of its own. In 1990-1991,records of Tripuras department of health showed 17 MBBS seats and two BDS seats had been allocated to candidates from Tripura. But records with the union health ministry showed that 22 MBBS seats and four BDS seats had been allotted. The CBI found that the extra seats had been allotted illegally to undeserving candidates.

In order to be nominated to a medical seat from Tripura,a candidate was required to be a state resident and clear the Tripura Board of Joint Entrance Examination. But candidates nominated by Masood,Singh and Roy had not sat for the exam and were from other states.