CBI sleuths get down to cracking Vyapam puzzle
14 July 2015 5:55 AM IST
In a case that has witnessed more twists and turns than a Bollywood thriller, the CBI on Monday took over the probe in the Vyapam scam, the massive admission and recruitment scandal, which has rocked Madhya Pradesh and dented the credibility of the state’s BJP government.
Getting down to business, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team led by a Joint Director-level officer from the agency’s headquarters in Delhi began preliminary consultations with MP police’s Special Task Force (STF), which hitherto investigated the numerous cases related to the scam. Sources in the premier probe agency said it would make an assessment of the enormity of the scam before launching <g data-gr-id="39" style="display: inline; color: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; -webkit-background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAA+gAAAACCAYAAADLlPadAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAKklEQVRYhe3OQQEAIAgEsMM6xrMb9SQGny3B6vb7AQAAAFad7QAAAACQDAGHAlfrnYEmAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC), url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAACCAYAAACZgbYnAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAEklEQVQImWNY/ejYfyYGBgYGABiLA1VQQvxSAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; background-position: 200% 100%, 0px 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat;">fresh</g> investigation.
The STF was probing the cases under day-to-day monitoring by the MP High Court-appointed Special Investigating Team before CBI was asked to step in following a huge public and political outcry over a number of deaths of people linked to the scam, some of them unexplained.
Congress, which led the opposition attack on the state’s BJP government led by three-term Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has claimed 49 people associated with Vyapam in some way have died under mysterious circumstances, though the official figure stands at 25.
The 40-member CBI contingent headed by Joint Director R P Agarwal held discussions with Sudhir Sahi, head of the STF.
The STF under Sahi has been probing the case since August 2013. In November last year, the Madhya Pradesh High Court constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the chairmanship of former High Court judge Chandresh Bhushan to supervise the investigation.
CBI Director Anil Sinha, sources said, was himself monitoring the developments in the case with assistance from two Additional Directors R K Dutta and Y C Modi. Agarwal, a 1986 batch Assam-<g data-gr-id="36" style="display: inline; color: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; -webkit-background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAA+gAAAACCAYAAADLlPadAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAK0lEQVRYhe3OMQEAIAwDsA6DHPh/ZoTJ2JMoSPW7PwAAAMCqsx0AAAAAkgHerQKHq3BtYQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==), url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAACCAYAAACZgbYnAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAEklEQVQImWP4vGvnfyYGBgYGABl4A2hm/SKhAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; background-position: 200% 100%, 0px 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat;">Meghalya</g> cadre IPS officer, is posted as Joint Director, anti-corruption department, at the CBI Headquarters.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu had on July 9 transferred the probe of all Vyapam cases, including the related deaths, to CBI, which was directed to take over the probe on Monday. The premier investigative agency has been asked to file its report to the apex court on July 24 when it is likely to take a call on monitoring the investigation as demanded by some petitioners including Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh.
The scam involves professionals, high-profile politicians and bureaucrats with hundreds of people including aspirants and their parents in jail. Former MP Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma and several top bureaucrats are also behind bars.
The role of MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav has also come under cloud for allegedly favouring
some aspirants.
The STF had registered an FIR against him but the High Court quashed it citing immunity from criminal prosecution he enjoys in office. Supreme Court has also issued notices to Yadav and the Centre and state governments on petitions seeking his removal from the post.
Yadav’s son Shailesh, an accused in one of the Vyapam cases, had died mysteriously at his father’s Lucknow residence in March this year.
Meanwhile, Opposition Congress on Monday accused the ruling BJP of conspiring to preclude their plans of <g data-gr-id="80" style="display: inline; color: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; -webkit-background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAA+gAAAACCAYAAADLlPadAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAKklEQVRYhe3OQQEAIAgEsMM6xrMb9SQGny3B6vb7AQAAAFad7QAAAACQDAGHAlfrnYEmAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC), url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAACCAYAAACZgbYnAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAEklEQVQImWNY/ejYfyYGBgYGABiLA1VQQvxSAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; background-position: 200% 100%, 0px 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat;">shutdown</g> called on July 16 to protest the Vyapam scam and related deaths.
BJP is upset because of the support extended by different organisations and the public to the protest (against the Vyapam scam), Congress spokesman Narendra Saluja said in a statement.
“BJP is asking its leaders to ensure that the bandh doesn’t evoke any response in their respective areas and to do so, they have been asked to keep shops open,” the statement said.
The Congress leader accused BJP of pressurising different organisations and asking them to stop supporting the <g data-gr-id="78" style="display: inline; color: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; -webkit-background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAA+gAAAACCAYAAADLlPadAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAK0lEQVRYhe3OMQEAIAwDsA6DHPh/ZoTJ2JMoSPW7PwAAAMCqsx0AAAAAkgHerQKHq3BtYQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==), url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAACCAYAAACZgbYnAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAEklEQVQImWP4vGvnfyYGBgYGABl4A2hm/SKhAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; background-position: 200% 100%, 0px 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat;">bandh</g> and issue press statements against it.
“We apprehend that BJP might even misuse the state machinery to derail the protest,” the statement said.
BJP, however, termed Congress’s charges as “totally false”.
“Congress has levelled false charges as it knows that the <g data-gr-id="77" style="display: inline; color: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; -webkit-background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAA+gAAAACCAYAAADLlPadAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAK0lEQVRYhe3OMQEAIAwDsA6DHPh/ZoTJ2JMoSPW7PwAAAMCqsx0AAAAAkgHerQKHq3BtYQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==), url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAACCAYAAACZgbYnAAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAAEklEQVQImWP4vGvnfyYGBgYGABl4A2hm/SKhAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-size: 0px 2px, 100% 2px; background-position: 200% 100%, 0px 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat;">bandh</g> is going to be unsuccessful,” he said.
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