CHANDIGARH: The 82-year-old former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala who is currently serving a ten-year sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for his role in the teachers' recruitment scam, has passed Class XII examination in the first division, inspired by prime accused in Jessica Lall’s murder case, Manu Sharma.
Chautala plans to go further and get a degree in Bachelor of Arts (BA). In April 2017, Chautala was out on parole while attending his grandson and Hisar Member of Parliament, Dushyant Singh Chautala’s wedding. Following the end of his parole n May 5, he is back in jail.
Manu Sharma who is the son of former union minister Venod Sharma and is imprisoned for life for killing model Jessica Lall in 1999, is doing his Bachelor of Laws ( LLB) and has been the inspiration for senior Chautala.
Senior INLD leader and younger son Abhay Singh Chautala said, “My father appeared for the Class XII examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling at the centre set up for prisoners at Tihar Jail. He was on parole at that time, but as the examination centre was inside the jail, he went back to jail and sat for the examination,” Abhay said.
He added that “ For the last four-and-a-half years, my father has been in jail and thus he thought of putting his time to use and thought to study since he had to discontinue during his earlier days due to family circumstances.’’
Manu Sharma’s jail cell in Tihar prison is next to Om Prakash Chautala’s and he saw him pursue higher studies from prison, Abhay Chautala said.