Rajkot: Local court in Rajkot has ordered seven-year imprisonment for Jayant Pandya, who heads controversial Vigyan Jatha organization here.

27 years ago, Pandya was a principal of Rajkot Municipal Corporation(RMC) run school number 10. He had withdrawn Rs. 14,419 scholarship fund on 4 November 1990 and Rs. 32,100 scholarship fund on 5 January 1991 from the bank. The scholarship fund was for the benefits of backward students under the scheme of State government’s social welfare department.

However Pandya didn’t pass on the scholarship funds to beneficiary students. Pandya instead created bogus documents to falsely show on paper that scholarship money was passed on to students. Pandya was helped by then school clerk Ganesh Khodabhai Sakhiya to do this scam.

In the course of departmental probe it was revealed that the signatures of students in receipts created by Pandya and Sakhiya were bogus and scholarship amount was received by students. Instead Pandya spent Rs. 21,919 sum on his personal expenditures.

Pandya and Sakhiya were booked and arrested under IPC sections 406,420, 468, 471 following a complaint by administrator Jayantilal Manek on 16 June 1992.

The court has ordered seven year term for Pandya and Rs. 17,000 fine.

DeshGujarat