MP Vyapam scam: Mysterious death of former IFS officer in Odisha

A retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, who also acted as an observer in two Vyapam recruitment tests of Madhya Pradesh, was found dead on a railway track in Odisha, police said on Saturday.

Zee News quoted a senior railway police official as saying that prima facie, it seemed that he died after falling from a moving train. The post-mortem report is still awaited, he told mediapersons.

Vijay Bahadur, a 1978 batch IFS officer, was travelling to Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, from Puri in Odisha with his wife Nita Singh.

When Bahadur’s wife alerted the TT that her husband was not onboard the train, the rail officials were alerted. A case of unnatural death has been registered with the Belpahar GRP.

He was appointed in various committees of VYAPAM (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board MPPEB) from 2010-13.

Bahadur’s death is similar to the death of Namrata Damor, a second year student in medical college, who was linked closely to the Vyapam scam. The CBI is probing that case, too.

Recently, all Vyapam scam related cases were handed over to the CBI and the Apex Court had earlier in September found that mysterious deaths related to the case had “suddenly stopped” after CBI started its probe.

There have been over 40 mysterious deaths of people related to the scam till now.

The Supreme Court, that is monitoring the high profile scam and the CBI probe, has meanwhile expressed deep concerns on the growing numbers of deaths of the persons whose names have figured in the scam.