With four deaths in four days, Vyapam scam is fast turning out to be the most sinister scams in recent times. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is under fire for not ordering a CBI probe into the case, which has claimed over 45 lives. The Opposition Congress has launched an all out attack on the Madhya Pradesh government and asked for the CM’s resignation for shielding the ‘scamsters’. Congress spokesperson PC Chacko on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take moral responsibility and reiterated the demand for a CBI probe.
Here’s what all you need about the scam:
Vyapam scam
The Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) or MP Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal, also known as Vyapam, conducts almost every exam in the state for government job seekers and for admission to educational institutes in the state. The scam involves massive corruption and irregularities in the entrance examination.
More than 45 people related to the Vyapam scam have died after it hit the national headlines in 2013. This includes witnesses, persons accused in the case and recently an AajTak journalist, Akshay Singh, who was investigating the case. He died under mysterious circumstances.
Complaints surfaced regarding irregularities in the functioning of the Board in 2009 and after a PIL was filed by Indore-based Anand Rai, the Madhya Pradesh CM formed a committee to investigate the matter. After they released their report in 2011, police arrested several people. A Special Task Force (STF) was soon established in 2012. By 2013, the scam had full-blown with arrest of major politicians, including Madhya Pradesh’s former education minister, Laxmikant Sharma, MPPEB officials, middlemen and students.
Dr Anand Rai, the whistleblower has alleged that undeserving candidates received help through illegal means in the entrance exams. He added that impersonators took the test on behalf of actual candidates. In some cases, a person was strategically placed between two persons who let them copy from their answer sheet and at other times, OMR sheets were randomly scored and later filled accordingly by the Board officials.
Congress has repeatedly demanded for an independent CBI probe after expressing concern over the mysterious deaths. The CM has instead termed it as mudslinging by the Opposition. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh filed a petition in the Supreme Court on June 30 and asked for a CBI probe into the scam .
Deaths
The enormity of the Vyapam scam can be ascertained from the fact that more than 45 people have died under mysterious circumstances. According to the Special Investigation Team set up by the High Court, 32 of the scamsters have died in suspicious circumstances since 2012. Some of the people who have died mysteriously are as follows:
1. Ramakant Panda
The police constable had been questioned in the Vyapam case four months back. On Tuesday, July 7, Panda was found dead in Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh.
2. Anamika Kushwaha
A trainee cop recruited through Vyapam, Anamika was found dead in a lake adjacent to the Police Training Academy in Sagar district headquarters on July 6, 2015.
3. Arun Sharma
Dean of medical college in Jabalpur, Aun Sharma was found dead at a hotel in Delhi on July 5, 2015 . He was assisting probe into the scam and providing documents on fake medical entrance examinees in the state-run medical college he was heading.
4. Akshay Singh
An Aaj Tak journalist, Akshay died under mysterious circumstances on July 4, 2015 while he was investigating the scam. He had called on the parents of Namrata Damor, whose body had been found under mysterious circumstances near railway tracks in Ujjain district.
5. Vijay Singh
Pharmacist Vijay went missing hours before he was supposed to appear before STF at the Bhopal High Court. He was found dead on April 28, 2015 in a lodge run by a BJP MLA in Kanker.
6. Shailesh Yadav
MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s son Shailesh, an accused in the Vyapam scam was found dead at his residence in Lucknow on March 25, 2015. Police suspected that he died due to a brain haemorrhage. Yadav had been served notice by the Special Task Force (STF), which has been probing the scam.
7. Amit Sagar
Indrajeet Bhushan, the primary accused in the scam had mentioned Amit Sagar’s name during the investigations. But before the police could reach Sagar, he had already died. A student of Mhow Veterinary College, he was found dead in a pond on 18 February, 2015 in Sheopur.
8. Dr DK Sakalley
Dean of Netaji Subhashchandra Bose Medical College of Jabalpur, Dr DK Sakalley allegedly immolated himself in a garden behind his house on July 4, 2014. A suicide note was also recovered.
9. Ramendra Singh Bhadoria
Medical student Bhadoria was booked in the scam in January 2015. On January 15, 2014 he was found hanging at his home in Gwalior. A few weeks later, his mother committed suicide by consuming acid.
10. Lalit Golaria
A student accused in the PMT scam, Lalit’s body was found in Morena under a bridge in January 2015, 2014.
11. Bunty Sikarwar
12. Devendra Nagar
13. Anil Singh Yadav
14. Tarun Machhar
15. Pramod Sharma
16. Arvind Shakya
17. Aditya Chaudhary
18. Namrata Damor
Medical student Namrata’s body was found on the railway tracks near Ujjain in 2012. In 2014, Namrata’s names appeared in the list of student suspects in the scam, leading to suspicions of foul play.
19.Deepak Verma
20.Gyan Singh
21. Anuj Uikey
22. Anshul Sachan
22. Shyamvir Yadav
24. Vikas Singh Thakur
On July 6, 2015 Vyapam scam whistle-blower claimed threat to his and his wife’s life. He alleged that the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan “wants him dead”.
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