Another death, still no CBI probe
VYAPAM HORROR Trainee cop ‘kills herself’ in MP police college; Rajnath says CBI probe only if ordered by court
NEW DELHI/BHOPAL/LUCKNOW: A multi-crore scam in Madhya Pradesh got murkier on Monday with a mysterious third death linked to the scandal but the Centre ruled out a CBI probe despite mounting pressure amid allegations of witnesses being deliberately eliminated.
Police found the body of 25-year-old trainee sub-inspector Anamika Kushwaha — who was recruited by the scam-tainted process that affected at least 2.5 million students – in a pond near a police academy and said preliminary evidence suggested suicide.
Her body was discovered a day after Arun Sharma, the dean of a Jabalpur medical college, who was helping the investigation, was found dead in his Delhi hotel room on Sunday and Akshay Singh, a journalist covering the multi-layered racket, died midinterview on Saturday.
Opposition parties called for the resignation of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and demanded a Supreme Courtmonitored CBI probe as the investigation into one of the country’s biggest corruption scandals spread to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
“Chouhan should be sacked and an impartial probe ordered. How could such a mammoth corruption scam be carried on without the complicity and knowledge of the CM?” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.
At least 40 people including witnesses and accused connected to the racket have been found dead since 2013, when the arrest of 20 people in Indore blew the lid off the scam that has seen over 2,000 arrests including top bureaucrats and middlemen.
The BJP has stood behind Chouhan as top leaders think his exit will trigger instability within the party in the state but many say the embattled leader’s days as chief minister may be numbered.
Police say an organised racket employed medics from as far away as Patna and Lucknow to impersonate medical students and write recruitment exams since as early as 2008. Middlemen manipulated seating arrangements and forged answer sheets in exchange of lakhs of rupees.
But many whistleblowers say they now fear for their lives after scores of people, many of them in their 20s, were found dead in recent months.
Some bodies have been found under bridges and on railway tracks while others died of freak accidents or mysterious illnesses.
As the crisis spiralled, the Aam Aadmi Party announced a nationwide protest on July 11 with senior leader Kumar Vishwas filing a PIL in the Supreme
Court demanding a courtmonitored probe. The apex court is already hearing a petition to remove governor Ram Naresh Yadav, who is an accused in the case.
But a combative Chouhan refused to give in, saying all deaths shouldn’t be linked with the MP professional examination board (PEB) scam, also known as Vyapam scam after the board’s Hindi acronym. “Her (Kushwaha’s) death is an unfortunate incident but it is not related to the Vyapam scam investigation. Every death is sad,” Chouhan said.
The Centre also appeared to back him, with Union home minister Rajnath Singh ruling out a CBI probe, saying an MP high court-monitored special investigating team (SIT) was already investigating the allegations.
“If the SC or the high court feels the probe is not perfect, it will give directions and the government will immediately accept it and hand over the matter to the CBI,” Singh said.