The Special Court on Thursday convicted six people on charge of leaking question paper of MBBS entrance examination conducted two years ago in Goldengate College, Kathmandu. The court gave clean-chit to two other people accused in the case.

A division bench of Special Court Chairman Baburam Regmi and members Dwarika Man Joshi and Narayan Prasad Pokhrel sentenced the main accused Kumar Kusawaha to four years in prison and slapped Rs 3.4 million fine, registrar Bhim Shrestha said.

Likewise, the bench awarded two-year prison and Rs 1.7 million fine to Maheswor Yadav; one-year prison and Rs 900,000 fine to Dharmendra Yadav; nine-month prison and Rs 505,000 fine to Deviram Pandey; 45-day in prison and Rs 2500 fine to Khecharnath Sapkota aka Harihar; and one-year prison and Rs 502,000 fine to Jiwach Kumar Yadav.

Shaif Akhter and Ghanendra Prasad Sangraula have been cleared of the charges.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had arrested the eight aforesaid individuals for their alleged involvement in leaking the question papers of MBBS scholarship examination conducted by the Ministry of Education.

Of those sentenced by the court, Deviram Pandey is investor and director of Battisputali-based Goldengate College. Likewise, Harihar is a teacher at the college.

The accused were caught red-handed from Ratopul, Gaushala while trading money from student with guarantee of providing them the question paper. 

CIAA had lodged the complaint after proving the tip-off it had received that said the question papers were being sold at over Rs one million each with help of college proprietors.

CIAA said that some students who were approached for money in exchange of question papers knocked the door of CIAA to stop such activities. CIAA then provided some money to the student and asked them to play along with the question paper mafias and receive a bond against money. CIAA took actions based on these documents, it is learnt.