Vyapam scam has taken toll on the lives of more than 40 people since 2013. The scam relates to rigging and manipulation in the selection procedure for government posts conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board. It involves Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam) which conducts examinations and tests for professional courses and recruitment to various positions.
It is being alleged that politicians, businessmen and officials are involved in this scam wherein proxy are being put up by the examinees because of which ineligible candidates were taken in and recruited.
The whole scam has taken a mysterious turn as one after the other; various people who are somehow connected with the concerned scam are found to be dying. A cursory perusal of the situation indicates that not only the candidates have died but also dummy aspirants and those investigating the scam have lost their lives. The government of Madhya Pradesh conceded in the High Court, on June 25th, that as many as 25 accused had died by then. The number of actual deaths is, however, more than 40 as per the reports by various news agencies.
At the beginning, the government of Madhya Pradesh formed a special task force to investigate the scam. Nevertheless, the MP High Court, rejecting the demand of Congress leader, Mr. Digvijaya Singh for a CBI probe in the matter, on 5th November 2014, formed a special investigating team (SIT) to probe the scam. On July 7th, the Hon’ble Supreme Court agreed to hear petitions seeking a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam. The SC hearing will take place on July 9th. Nevertheless, on July 7th, Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, MP’s CM, has remarked, “I bow my head to people’s wishes… I am sending a request to the High Court that the CBI should be allowed to investigate the case.”
In connection with the scam, over 2,000 people have been arrested so far, which includes former education minister, Laxmikant Sharma. The arrested people also include over a hundred of politicians, several officials of MPPEB, bureaucrats, middlemen, students and their parents.
The investigation in the concerned scam began on July 7th, 2013 on the basis of the information provided by an Indore-based civil rights activist, Dr. Anand Rai, by lodging a complaint regarding the same. Forensic expert, Mr. Prashant Pandey, became a whistleblower in July 2014, when he realised that the special task force was relying on documents that seemed to have been tampered with. Gwalior-based social activist, Mr. Ashish Chaturvedi, claims to have disclosed the involvement of the state’s Chief Minister, Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s relatives and seven others in the scam. All whistleblowers now claim that they fear for their lives.
The deaths are a serious blow for Mr. Chouhan and it can lead to the exposure of the politician who has been on a winning spree since 2005, when he first became the Chief Minister of the state.