Faridkot: A local court in Faridkot has granted regular bail to 16 candidates arrested in connection with the alleged electronic cheating and paper leak scandal during the Pharmacy Officer recruitment examination. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Daljit Kaur ordered their release, observing that the case records do not justify the continued detention of the accused for ongoing investigative purposes.
The individuals granted bail have been identified as Suraj Kumar, Kulwant Singh, Gurpinder Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Rinku, Jasveer Singh, Akshdeep Singh, Amandeep Sharma, Satnam Singh, Gaurav Chauhan, Manpreet Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and Gursewak Singh. They had been booked under Sections 318(4), 61(2), and 112 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita alongside Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act at the Cyber Crime Police Station in Faridkot.
The case stems from the recruitment test conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences on July 19, where several candidates across multiple examination centres were allegedly caught using micro-earpieces and Bluetooth receiver devices to facilitate cheating.
During the hearing, defence counsel argued that certain accused were not named in the initial first information report and had no illicit electronic devices recovered during personal searches. Opposing the relief, the prosecution contended that the case involved organized malpractice in a government recruitment drive. While acknowledging the gravity of the charges, the court ruled that severity alone cannot be the sole ground to deny bail, directing each candidate’s release upon furnishing a personal bond of Rs 20,000 with one surety.
