HC relief for Shivraj Chouhan, Digvijaya excel sheet forged

In a major relief to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, an  excel spreadsheet presented by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh as evidence to suggest Chouhan’s involvement in an examination scam  was accepted on Friday as a forgery by the Madhya Pradesh High Court which is monitoring the investigation into the scam that is centred on  government officers allegedly accepting bribes from job-seekers. 

In return, the bribe-givers were reportedly able to use imposters for recruitment exams to medical and other departments between 2007 and 2013. Since 2011, the High Court  has been supervising the police investigation, described by Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh as a scheme to  shield the guilty including the Chief Minister, who is now in his third term.

In February, Singh and his colleagues, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, demanded that the CBI take over the case because the police had destroyed or tampered with important evidence that they said indicted Chouhan. As an example, they said an excel spreadsheet found on a computer hard-drive had been tampered with to remove references of  Chouhan as the one recommending candidates.

But the police have told the court that the document, and a pen drive with a copy of the spreadsheet, that was furnished by a man described by the Congress as a whistle-blower is unauthentic.