Poisoning suspected

Vyapam: 2 deaths in 2 days, Cong seeks CBI probe

Bhopal: There has been a growing number of voices that suspect use of poison in the unnatural death of as many as 47 witnesses, whistleblowers, investigators, accused and journalists connected to the infamous Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh.

Whistleblower Dr Anand Rai said on Sunday that there were repeated attempts to suppress the case by poisoning to death those associated with the affair. “I want to ask Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan how he revealed the Vyapam scam.

The only thing that he has done is to order raids at certain hotels after we revealed the scam... The reality is that there have been repeated efforts to suppress the case,” Dr Rai said. “As far as these sudden cardiac arrests of various people associated with the case are concerned, I suspect a poison was used to murder them.

There should be an immediate attempt to arrange for the security of those associated with the case," he added. Dr Rai's statement come after Akshay Singh, a journalist with the TV Today Group, died suddenly on Saturday when he had gone to take an interview of the family of a slain Vyapam scam accused in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.

Reports say that Singh felt chest pain while he was taking the interview. He was taken to the Meghnagar hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. Earlier, people linked to the scam are dying in mysterious circumstances. Others are getting death threats. Some of them are accused. Others are whistle-blowers.

But all have important roles to play in the probe carried out by the special task force (STF). A special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court is monitoring the probe. Many of these people have expressed fear for their lives. Some have even moved court seeking protection, saying the scam involves powerful people, including political leaders and police officials.

“There is a clear pattern. People are being targeted and killed,” said a Bhopal-based activist, who refused to identify himself. Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in several cases related to the scam. But even investigators admit that there are hundreds of others who have knowledge of what exactly took place in the scam, who are yet to be traced and arrested. However, some of these people have died of natural causes.

Since January 2012, when the body of Namrata Damor, a medical student, was found on a railway track near Ujjain, nearly half-a-dozen people have lost their lives, who many claim were murdered. The dead include DK Sakalle, the former dean of the Jabalpur Medical College, and pharmacist Vijay Singh Patel, who was found murdered in a hotel room in Chhattisgarh recently.

One among the dead is Shailesh Yadav, an accused in the scam, the eldest son of Governor Ramnaresh Yadav. Shailesh was found dead in mysterious circumstances in his Lucknow residence. The Governor himself is implicated in the scam and the STF had even filed an FIR against him in a case related to recruitment of forest guards. However, the high court later quashed the FIR in view of his constitutional position.

But the court did allow the STF to question him in the case. The latest to be targeted by unknown persons, allegedly in attempts on their lives, are whistle-blowers Prashant Pandey and Ashish Chaturvedi. Pandey is an Indore-based cyber expert who had once helped in the scam probe but allegedly fell out with police later.

He had recently moved the Delhi high court seeking protection. Pandey claims to posses “sensitive information” relating to the scam, having worked with the STF earlier. On May 8, Pandey filed a complaint alleging that unknown persons rammed into one of his cars which overturned on impact. Police, however, said the car overturned after it hit a cow.

“The PEB scam is the biggest scam in the history of the country, it has thrown many VIPs in jail and many more could go behind bars, and hence the stakes are very high for those whose future is affected by witnesses’ statements or whistleblowers,” said the Bhopal-based activist.

While STF chief Sudhir Sahi did not respond to HT calls, one official refused to comment on whether the incidents are aimed at “silencing” key witnesses and whistleblowers. Congress leader and party’s chief spokesperson KK Mishra said “the deaths and attacks suggest that people linked to the scam, are being targeted.”

47 mystery deaths, 2,000 arrests

When a professional examination (Vyapam) scam broke in Madhya Pradesh, authorities thought it was just another case of candidates paying touts to get into a coveted college or secure a plum government job. Now over the years, the irregularities have snowballed into a massive multi-layered scam that has claimed the lives of 47 whistleblowers, accused and witnesses with others saying they received death threats as the top leaders find themselves embroiled in the scandal.

What is the scam all about?

More than 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the scam, where organised rackets allegedly rigged tests conducted by the MP Professional Examination Board (PEB) for admissions and recruitment to various courses and government jobs. Police say scamsters employed imposters to write papers, manipulate sitting arrangements and even supply forged answer sheets by bribing officials between 2012 and 2013.

How the scam unearthed?

While investigating complaints of imposters in the Pre-entrance Medical Test (PMT), Indore Police stumbled upon multiple rackets that committed large-scale fraud in PEB examinations for years. Among the tests rigged were the PMT 2008-13, Pre-PG test for postgraduate medical courses 2012, and recruitment exams for contract teachers, food inspectors, police constables and Ayurvedic medical officers.

How many were affected?

As many as 1,087 ineligible students got admission in medical colleges from 2008 to 2013. Their admissions were cancelled.The modus operandi Several gangs operated with the connivance of PEB officials to manipulate sitting arrangements in examination halls and to fill optical mark recognition answer-sheets. While the rate started from Rs 15 lakh for the PMT, it was more than Rs 50 lakh for admission in PG (Medical).

The investigation

The investigation was handed over to the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police. The high court is monitoring STF’s investigation directly through a Special Investigating Team after a pitched Opposition campaigned against the state government for allegedly going slow in the probe. Separate cases have been registered for investigating scams in different tests. In March, the SIT told the Supreme Court it had arrested approximately 1,800 accused and was on the lookout for another 800 people.

Who are the top accused?

Former education minister Laxmikant Sharma was jailed for fraud in the contract teachers recruitment test. His former officer on special duty (OSD) OP Shukla and former PA Sudhir Sharma are also behind bars. Shukla was charged with taking Rs 85 lakh from suspended officials of the PEB –- director and controller of tests Pankaj Trivedi and principal systems analyst Nitin Mahindra -– for getting candidates selected.

Dhanraj Yadav, former OSD to governor, is accused of being involved in the recruitment of a large number of candidates through his links with suspended PEB officials. DIG RK Shivhare, a suspended IPS officer, was arrested for allegedly getting candidates selected in the sub-inspectors recruitment test. His daughter and son-in-law were allegedly involved in fraudulently cracking the pre-PG (medical) entrance test. Governor Ram Naresh Yadav was booked for allegedly accepting bribes from five people for recruiting them as forest guards but the high court later quashed the FIR in view of his constitutional position.