A special court here on Saturday sentenced five people to seven years imprisonment for rigging a 2009 Pre Medical Test (PMT) conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, better known by its Hindi acronym Vyapam ((Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal).

Special Judge Sanjay Kumar Gupta found Satyapal Kustwar, Shailendra Kumar, Ravindra Dulawat, Ashish Uttam and Sanjay Dulawat guilty under Indian Penal Code and Madhya Pradesh Examination Recognition Act provisions and also imposed fine of Rs 10,000 each on them, Special Public Prosecutor Ranjan Sharma told reporters.

"The court found the five guilty after examining 70 witnesses. Shailendra Kumar and Ashish Uttam wrote the PMT 2009 for Satyapal Kustwar and Ravindra Dulawat respectively. Kumar and Uttam come from Uttar Pradesh. Sanjay Dulawat was a tout who arranged solvers for PMT examinees," the SPP said.

In February, the Madhya Pradesh government had changed the name of MP Professional Examination Board to Staff Selection Board.The Vyapam scam refers to a host of irregularities, including candidates bribing officials, deploying others to appear in exams etc and involved politicians, senior officials, middlemen and businessmen. The CBI had taken over the investigation following a Supreme Court order in 2015.