BHOPAL: A fresh FIR by the Madhya Pradesh STF into the infamous Vyapam scam, almost eight years after a complaint was filed by former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, has triggered unrest within a section of the ruling party, with some of them seeing it as a 'political' move. Some have taken up the matter with the BJP's top brass in New Delhi, sources say.
The case has been registered against eight people taking cognisance of a complaint filed by Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh in 2014, alleging that a section of BJP leaders were allegedly involved in the scam. This FIR, registered at the fag end of 2022, has also raised several eyebrows over its 'sanction'.
STF officials dismiss the political controversy and say it's routine action since they are already investigating hundreds of complaints related to the Vyapam scam that were not taken up by the CBI.
STF registered the case on December 6 against Prashant Meshram, Ajay Tengar, Krishna Kumar Jaiswal, Anil Chouhan, Hari Kishan Jatav, Shiv shankar Prasad, Amit Badole and Sulwant Singh Morya for allegedly clearing PMT 2008-2009 through impersonators. STF says their signatures and other credentials were found to be mismatched during a probe by the 'questioned documents (QD) section' of police headquarters.
Digvijaya had submitted a list of students in three different categories, alleging that some ministers of the MP government and a few senior BJP leaders were involved in the scam for financial benefit.
It was in July 2015 that the Supreme Court transferred Vyapam investigations from MPSTF to CBI. The central agency registered 155 cases. Today, CBI has no Vyapam case pending for investigation, and hundreds of investigators, sent to Bhopal for the massive probe, have been sent back to their parent units.
They include CBI SP Manish Surti, who headed Vyapam zone branch from day-1 The agency has chargesheeted more than 3,500 suspects, and now, the prosecution takes over.
Scam whistleblowers Dr Anand Rai and Ashish Chaturvedi are going through tough times. While Dr Rai has been arrested and shifted to jail in Sagar district over a political protest movement, Chaturvedi is battling a deadly infection and is under constant medical observation.
