Vyapam scam: CBI seeks SC direction to STF to keep filing chargesheets

Mangalore Today News Network

Bhopal, July 16, 2015: A day after taking over the probe into the Vyapam scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Special Task Force (STF) to keep filing chargesheets in cases in which probes are over.

 

CBI’s counsel told the apex court that transfer of over 185 Vyapam cases to the investigation agency will take time and accused should not get statutory bail on account of non-filing of chargesheet within the limitation period of 90 days.

On Wednesday, the CBI registered three FIRs and formally launched its probe into the Vyapam scam.

The CBI team, which has been camping in Bhopal for the past few days, yesterday registered three cases in connection with massive rigging of examinations for recruitment in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions, naming among others a member of Madhya Pradesh Backward Classes and Minorities Commission member and his son.

The premier investigating agency also launched a probe into the "mysterious" deaths of five persons associated with the scam.

The cases relate to the scandal involving the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), also known by its Hindi acronym Vyapam.

According to CBI sources, the three FIRs have been registered in connection with Pre-Medical Tests for 2009, 2010 and Pre-PG Examination of 2011. The cases have been lodged under various sections of Indian Penal Code pertaining to cheating and forgery.

The CBI has named 21 candidates in the FIR in connection with PMT Test 2010, eight in the second case related to Pre-PG examination of 2011 which includes Gulab Singh Kirar, a member of the MP Backward Classes and Minorities Commission and his son Shakti Singh Kirar. Others named include former controllers of examination, Vyapam, Sudhir Bhadauria and Pankaj Trivedi.

As the Supreme Court while handing over the investigation of Vyapam scam to CBI had also asked it to probe the deaths of people linked to it, the agency also called for records from the Superintendents of Police of Ujjain, Kanker, Gwalior, Jhabua and DIG, Indore, records of "mysterious" deaths of five people.

The Congress has alleged at least 49 people associated with the scandal have so far died under "mysterious" circumstances.

Records have been sought in connection with the deaths of Namrata Damor, Vijay Patel, Rajendra Arya, Akshay Singh and Deepak Verma. Akshay Singh, a TV reporter, had recently died minutes after interviewing Damor’s parents.

The body of Damor, an MBBS student and a suspected beneficiary of the scam, was found near railway tracks in Ujjain district. The death was initially described as murder by the MP police, which later closed the case calling it accidental.

Patel was accused in three cases related to Vyapam probe carried out by STF of MP police. A resident of Rewa district, he was found dead in Kanker, Chhattisgarh.

Arya, a suspected middleman facing probe in the scam, was found dead a week after he was released from prison. Police claimed he was suffering from a liver infection.

Verma, also an alleged middleman in the PMT scam, was killed in a road accident in 2010.

 

Courtesy: Zeenews