Indore: The CBI Special Court convicted 12 persons of impersonation in the 2011 Pre-Medical Test (PMT) conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (Vyapam) on Saturday.

The Court sentenced each accused for five years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 6,000.  It is the long-running Vyapam scam and one of India’s largest recruitment and examination frauds. The convicts, sentenced for impersonating others as examinees, have been sent to jail following the court order.

Of the 12 accused, four from Madhya Pradesh, and remaining eight are from Uttar Pradesh, highlighting the inter-state nature of the organized racket. CBI Special Court Judge Shubhra Singh, after a detailed trial, held the accused guilty of systematic fraud.

The case involved original candidates who submitted applications, imposters who appeared in their place, and middlemen who conspired and designed the deception for monetary gain.

The Court emphasized that such crimes not only violate the law but also inflict grave injustice on meritorious students, robbing them of rightful opportunities in medical admissions.

One additional accused, a minor at the time of the offence, had his case adjudicated separately earlier. The Vyapam scam, which surfaced in 2013, exposed a vast nexus involving officials, politicians, and racketeers manipulating exams for Government jobs and professional courses.

Thousands were implicated, with multiple deaths linked to the probe adding to its notoriety. Investigations were transferred to the CBI on Supreme Court orders in 2015. This conviction adds to a series of judgments in Vyapam-related cases, reinforcing accountability.