SC hands over Vyapam probe to CBI

Chief Justice Dattu said the High Court will not now “touch the Vyapam cases once we have ordered CBI investigation”. Talking to mediapersons in Bhopal, he accused the Congress of attacking him “under the waist”.

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister met the family of Akshay Singh, the journalist who died on Saturday whereas reporting on the Vyapam rip-off, earlier this morning.

But despite the dents to his government’s image, Mr Chouhan has refused to resign.

The AG said, “We have acceded to CBI probe and for it to be monitored by the Supreme Court is entirely upto you (apex court)”.

And a Madhya Pradesh police constable, who committed suicide also on Monday, was being questioned by a team probing the scam, reports said.

Almost 2,000 people have been arrested since 2013 over the scandal in which thousands of people are alleged to have paid bribes in return for jobs on the state payroll or for places in educational institutes. There is circumstantial evidence that there were proofs available for all the deaths that occurred all the proofs have now been destroyed.

The STF also submitted his death certificate before the court.

Autopsy reports in most of these deaths have been inconclusive or have yet to be released.

Madhya Pradesh CM Chouhan, however, insisted that every death can not be linked to the scam.

Singh had been looking into Damor’s death when he died earlier this week.

This came a day after the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court deferred the decision on a plea seeking CBI probe till July 20, saying it would wait for the Supreme Court decision on the same.

The Supreme Court has appreciated our prayer and accepted it, he noted.

The move drew sharp criticism from the supreme court.

The bench also refrained from making any remarks on the Governor when Sibal said that Yadav should demit office to maintain its dignity. These jailed persons, he said, would be able to disclose names of those who used them in running their scam which had taken a number of lives. The CBI’s entry is like a safety valve to release the pressure building up on the BJP and Chouhan, but the pressure will now shift elsewhere – to Delhi. A notice has now been issued against the governor by the Supreme Court.