Media watchdog seeks probe into death of Indian journalist

The Congress on Tuesday dismissed as “hogwash” the Madhya Pradesh government’s plea to the High Court seeking its direction to institute a CBI probe into the Vyapam admission tests scam.

The Vyapam Scam is stated to involve the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or Vyapam, which conducts the examinations for positions like medical officers, constables, teachers and auditors for government departments.

Chouhan, who has been under opposition attack, said people wanted to know the truth and it had become imperative that the case be probed by CBI now to put to rest all doubts.

“Chouhan took the decision because he and the Central government could not do it as the investigation is being monitored by the High Court”, he said.

But the latest deaths have now forced Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, to heed calls for the inquiry to be reassigned to a federal body.

A day before that Akshay Singh, a television journalist at Aaj Tak who was on the scam trail, died under mysterious circumstances after interviewing the parents of a girl who had been found dead near a railway track after being linked to the scam. This has deepened suspicions about a systematic elimination of people linked to the racket, with opposition parties demanding an independent CBI probe. Tiwari had raised questions of about death of the then dean D.K. Saakalle.

The most high-profile death in the case was that of Shailesh Yadav, son of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav.

Chauhan had previously tried to fend off the accusations, saying that an ongoing inquiry by state investigators would get to the bottom of the allegations and there was no need for a federal probe.

Bharti also said she saw a “very deep conspiracy” in her name cropping up in the Vyapam scam and said people are succumbing to “shame and fear” caused by the scandal and that nobody was killing them.

Despite the rising body count and mounting political pressure, Chouhan has so far ruled out a CBI probe into the deaths.

Organised rackets employed imposters, manipulated seating arrangements, and forged answer sheets as part of the Vyapam scam, named after PEB’s Hindi acronym.

Wondering what made the Chief minister change his position in 24 hours, he said he suspected that he may be listening more to the “internal contradictions within his party and to the impossibility of explaining these awful facts”.

Uma Bharti’s outburst forced the Madhya Pradesh chief minister’s hand, say BJP sources.

“The Vyapam scam is such a scam where is seems like a lot of big people of Madhya Pradesh are involved: either by propagating it or by being its beneficiaries”.

Chouhan right now made a D-flip beneath all spherical strain and determined to hunt a probe into the rip-off by CBI on a day the Supreme Court agreed to listen to petitions on this regard.