The Supreme Court on Thursday bowed out of hearing the Vyapam scam, and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete its probe into 37 of the 170 cases within three months.
A Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi also directed the 22 CBI courts hearing the cases to speed up the trial.
The apex court further refrained from making any comments on the status report and a forensic report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad, on the authenticity of the electronic evidence — hard disk and pen drive.
Instead, the court said the forensic report would be examined by the competent trial court in due course.
The CBI, represented by Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, informed the court that forensic tests of the hard disk had revealed that it had not been “tampered” with.
In its status report on the investigation into the scam, the CBI revealed that regular cases had been filed in 154 cases. Sixteen of the cases are under preliminary inquiry.
Mr. Kumar submitted that charge sheets had been filed in 48 cases against 137 accused. Four closure reports had been filed out of which the court had accepted three.
Mr. Kumar submitted that investigation was pending in 37 cases, while 2,147 persons had been examined. There are 1,139 accused in the case.
The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking monitoring of the investigation into all cases arising out of the Vyapam scam.
The scam relates to alleged irregularities in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, which holds exams for recruiting medical officers, constables, teachers and auditors in government departments.
In July last year, the apex court ordered a CBI probe into all Vyapam scam cases and alleged deaths of people related to the scam.
