Money laundering probe in Vyapam on track: ED

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate's money laundering probe into the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh is "on track", the agency's chief said on Tuesday. "The probe in this case is on track. We have made some attachments earlier (against the accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act)," ED Director Rajan Katoch told reporters in Kolkata.

He was asked about the progress in this case in Madhya Pradesh after he came out of the ED office in Salt Lake in Kolkata. He was on a day's visit to the East zone regional office of the agency based in the West Bengal capital.

The central probe agency had registered a criminal FIR in March last year to probe alleged financial irregularities and laundering instances in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam, also called 'Vyapam' in Hindi, pertaining to admission of candidates and students in professional courses and state services in alleged connivance with officials and politicians. The agency had named former state Higher Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma and 27 others in its FIR.

ED investigators, based in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, have also attached assets worth over Rs 3 crore of an alleged mastermind of the scam, Jagdish Sagar, in connection with their probe in April.

Katoch, after reviewing various probes undertaken by the Eastern zone of the agency along with Special Director Yogesh Gupta, said the office was handling some of the most important cases in eastern India and was doing good. "I am happy that so far the investigations here have been very professional, fair and impartial and I hope that the officers will proceed like this in the future too," he said while complimenting the money laundering and Hawala (illegal transfer of funds) probes done by the zone in the past.

I said Lalit case was simple and silly, not Vyapam: Gowda Law Minister Sadananda Gowda now says that he had said that the Lalit Modi's case was "simple and silly", not the Vyapam case. It was widely reported that Gowda at a press conference said that the Prime Minister need not speak on all "silly issues". Gowda made the remark while answering questions about the PM's silence on the Vyapam scam . Responding to a query about PM Narendra Modi's silence over Vyapam, he said: "The state has initiated probe. The deaths are a matter of concern, but law and order is state subject. See, the Prime Minister need not answer on silly issues," Gowda said.

"The concerned ministers and party president have answered. For each silly issue asking the Prime Minister to answer is not fair," he added.

A US-based media watchdog has called for full investigation into the death of TV journalist Akshay Singh while covering the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh. "The Indian government should do its utmost to investigate the death of journalist Akshay Singh in a credible and thorough manner," demanded Committee to Protect Journalist Asia Research Associate Sumit Galhotra.

"Given the recent spike in the number of journalist deaths in the country, authorities should dedicate their efforts to solving these cases and delivering justice where due," he said in a statement.

Singh, 38, an investigative journalist with a private Hindi news channel, died a mysterious death on Saturday soon after he had interviewed the parents of a girl who was found dead after her name figured in the recruitment scandal.