Raging Vyapam fire threatens to singe state’s investigating agency
Activists, opposition parties accuse STF of going soft on ministers, top bureaucrats
BHOPAL: The credibility of the special task force (STF) probing the professional examination board scam has been called into question by whistle-blowers, activists and opposition parties in Madhya Pradesh, saying a state police unit cannot be fair in its functioning.
“For a scam of this magnitude, it is impossible that state-level officers can conduct a proper investigation, when almost everyone at the top is involved in some way,” said a retired IPS officer, requesting not to be named. “It is just not possible to expect an officer who salutes a minister or stands up at the sight of a senior bureaucrat to record their statement properly, let alone question or arrest them.”
Activists have accused the STF of going soft on top bureaucrats and ministers’ relatives whose names have come up in the probe, saying only a CBI investigation could unearth the truth.
“After the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood, Bhopal police had failed to question politicians and even tried to pass it off as a suicide as high-profile people were linked. It was only after the probe was handed to the CBI that the investigation picked up, local politicians were grilled and the case solved,” the retired officer said.
A former chairperson of the professional examination board, Ranjan Chaudhary, was accused of taking money from the recruitment racket but despite the statement being part of the charge sheet, she was not named as an accused in the case.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s kin Gulab Singh Kirar is an accusedd but for months the STFF could not locate him, although he attended political functions openly and even shared the dais with Chouhan a few months ago.
In the case of an IAS officer whose son cracked the pre-PG (medical) examination by allegedly paying ` 75 lakh, the STF arrested the son and booked an uncle of his but not the father. These examples have repeatedly been cited to the STF in memoranda by different people, urging it to take action.
Former legislator and whistle-blower Paras Saklecha said the investigation was aimed at saving the high and mighty. He termed the special task force as a force to protect the ‘special’ (VIPs).
STF officials were unavailable for comments. Chouhan has refused to recommend a CBI inquiry into the scam. The opposition alleges that the accused enjoy Chouhan’s patronage. “Prem Prasad, former personalson assistant of CM Shivraj SinghS Chouhan, i s an accused in the scam but got bail. If the STF is not under pressure, why did it not oppose his bail?” said CongressC chief spokespersonso KK Mishra. FormerFo BJP MP and senior leaderleade Raghunandan Sharma questioned the fairness of the STF probe and wrote a letter to the DGP recently, urging him to instruct the investigators to be fair.