New Delhi: The future of over 200 students, who took admission in four private medical colleges of Madhya Pradesh through management quota on a hefty payment, might hang in the balance after a CBI probe into a Vyapam case claimed irregularities in their selection, officials said.
The probe agency had written to the Madhya Pradesh government, seeking necessary action against these candidates, who did not appear in any entrance exam for admission in the medical colleges, they added.
The move was based on a probe conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Pre-Medical Test (PMT), conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (Vyapam in Hindi) in 2012, the officials said.
On Thursday, the agency filed a chargesheet in a special CBI court in Bhopal against 592 accused, including the chairmen of the four private medical colleges, for their alleged involvement in the recruitment scam.
The promoters were -- J N Choksey, chairman of the L N Medical College; S N Vijaywargiya of the People's Medical College; Ajay Goenka of the Chirayu Medical College (all in Bhopal) and Suresh Singh Bhadoriya of the Index Medical College, Indore, the officials said.
While three promoters did not comment when contacted, Bhadoriya claimed that neither his nor his college's name was mentioned in the CBI chargesheet.
A total of 229 admissions were made by these four colleges under the management quota, by charging an amount between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore per seat, allegedly in violation of norms, the CBI officials said.
What was worrying was that the students who got admission through the management quota did not appear in any entrance exam, they added.
Of the 229 of such admissions, 88 were in the Index Medical College, 54 in the Chirayu Medical College, 46 in the People's Medical College and 41 in the L N Medical College, the officials said.
These admissions were done allegedly in connivance with the officials of the Vyapam, which has since been renamed as the Professional Examination Board, officials of the medical education department of the Madhya Pradesh government and some middlemen, they added.
Explaining the modus operandi, the officials said the middlemen followed an "engine-bogey" system for the pairing of candidates.
Under this arrangement, a bright candidate (who had already taken coaching classes to prepare for the entrance test and was well-versed with the examination pattern) would be alloted a roll number just ahead of a not-so-bright aspirant, so that the latter could cheat from him, they added.
A stormy Winter Session ahead for MP Assembly
Bhopal: The Winter Session of the Madhya Pradesh assembly commencing from Monday is likely to be stormy with the opposition Congress planning to take the BJP government to task over the probe into the Vyapam scam.
The opposition party expressed unhappiness over the way the CBI is probing the admission and recruitment scam and alleged "big fish are being let off".
"We are going to take the state government to task over the Vyapam scam. We are unhappy over the way the CBI is probing it. The small fry are being prosecuted and the big fish are being let off," Leader of Opposition and senior Congress legislator Ajay Singh said.
He said the Congress would ensure influential people involved in the scam do not get away. "We are going to put (Chief Minister) Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the mat over the Vyapam scam."
The CBI, investigating the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) in 2012 conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, also known by its Hindi acronym Vyapam, filed its chargesheet on Thursday last.
The chargesheet named as many as 592 people, including four promoters of private medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh.
On October 31, the central probe agency had filed a chargesheet in connection with the alleged regularities in PMT held in 2013.