A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Bhopal on Monday sentenced 30 people to seven years’ imprisonment in connection with the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, PTI reported. The alleged kingpin of the scam was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

The scam refers to alleged irregularities in various entrance and recruitment exams conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board – also known as the Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal, or Vyapam.

CBI Special Judge SB Sahu sentenced 29-year-old Pradeep Tyagi to 10 years’ imprisonment and fined him Rs 5,000 after holding him guilty of rigging the 2013 police constable recruitment exams, CBI prosecutor Satish Dinkar told the news agency.

Thirty others were sentenced to seven years in jail with a fine of Rs 30,000 each. The court found them guilty on a host of counts, including cheating by impersonation, cheating and forgery in connection with the exams.

Among those jailed are 12 impersonators, 12 candidates and seven middlemen, including Tyagi. Most of the convicts hailed from Gwalior, Morena, Bhind in Madhya Pradesh and parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Dinkar said 91 witnesses were examined in this case.

The probe agency took over the investigation from the Madhya Pradesh police in December 2015, and filed a chargesheet in 2017 after booking the accused for offences under sections related to conspiracy, forgery and tampering with electronic and other documentary evidence.