Chautala to be sentenced today, his supporters clash with cops outside Delhi court

Supporters of former Haryana chief minister OP Chautala were lathicharged by the Delhi police on Tuesday after they protested outside Rohini court and tried to forcefully get past the barricade.
The police had to also use tear gas and seal the court to keep protestors away.

The Rohini court will on Tuesday pronounce its order on sentence against OP Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and 53 others guilty of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in the state in the year 2000.

Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar on Monday concluded hearing the arguments on the quantum of sentence.

The court had on January 16 held Om Prakash Chautala, Ajay Chautala and 53 others guilty of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in the state in the year 2000.

They have all been held guilty of cheating, forgery, using fake documents as genuine, conspiracy under the IPC and for abusing their official position under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy against them can attract a maximum seven-year jail term.

A jail term of two years or more will make the father-son duo ineligible for elections under the Representation of People Act that disqualifies a convicted person from the date of conviction till six years after the sentence ends.

But the Chautalas can continue as MLAs till the disposal of their appeal, if they challenge the trial court's verdict in three months as stipulated by the Act.

Declared "the main culprit" in the recruitment scam, Chautala senior now joins the league of former BJP president Bangaru Laxman and former Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhram, who were earlier convicted of corruption.

The others convicted with the Chautalas include director of primary education Sanjiv Kumar, Chautala's former officer on special duty Vidya Dhar and political adviser to then Haryana CM Sher Singh Badshami.

While 16 of the 55 convicts are women, six of the 62 accused died during the trial.

One was discharged by the court at the time of framing charges.