Rasheed Masood gets 4 yrs in jail, could be first disqualified MP

A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced Congress MP Rasheed Masood to four years in jail for his involvment in a MBBS seat allotment scam. Along with Masood, top bureaucrats, IPS officer Gurdayal Singh and IAS officer AK Roy have also been sentenced to four years in jail. The students involved in the scam, including Masood’s nephew, have been sentenced to a year in jail. [caption id=“attachment_1145355” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Congress MP Rasheed Masood. IBNLive[/caption] Masood will be the first sitting MP to be disqualified under the July order of the Supreme Court, as he has been convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He will soon be taken to Delhi’s Tihar Jail. On 19 September, special CBI Judge JPS Malik had held Masood guilty of nominating undeserving candidates for academic session 1990-91 to MBBS seats allocated to Tripura from the central pool. The CBI had then argued that Rasood be sentenced to seven years in jail for his involvement in the scam. Masood was Minister of State (Independent Charge) in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare when the offence took place. In its chargesheet, the CBI had said that Tripura does not have any medical college of its own. “Consequently some MBBS and BDS seats are allocated every year from central pool by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India in various medical colleges across the country,” CBI counsel VN Ojha had told the court. These seats are made available to Tripura for allotment to eligible students from the state on the basis of merit, he had said. The Government of Tripura constituted the Tripura Board of Joint Entrance Examination (TBJEE) in 1988 for selection of candidates through joint entrance examination held every year. The CBI had alleged that some candidates got their names nominated for MBBS seats for academic session 1990-91 from accused Gurdial Singh, then Resident Commissioner Tripura and an IPS officer from Gujarat who was on deputation to the government of Tripura at the time.