The Congress party welcomed the >Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to hand over the investigation of the Vyapam scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation saying the court’s decision comes as a vindication of what the party has been saying all along.
Party general secretary and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh reiterated the demand that the Supreme Court should monitor the investigations. “The apex court will monitor the investigation in an open court,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu . Mr Singh is among those who had petitioned the Supreme Court in the scam. He reiterated the demand for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s resignation.
Earlier speaking to reporters, he said the party has full faith in the CBI investigating the case, a stance contrary to what the Congress had been saying for the last two days. “The government’s credibility depends on a fair probe by the CBI,” he said. The party alleged that the scam was not confined to MP alone. “I have evidence of the recruitment and admission scam spread as far as Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. I will reveal details only after my research into that is complete,” the former chief minister said.
Mr. Singh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should directly monitor the CBI’s probe through his office and fulfil his promise that he would not let the corrupt thrive under him. Mr. Singh said that Mr. Chouhan’s claim that he had initiated the probe into the Vyapam scam was a lie. “40 public interest litigations were filed in the matter and the Chief Minister kept forwarding the complaints to the official under whose gaze the scam unfolded,” he said.
On allegations against former Congressman and Governor of the state Ram Naresh Yadav, Mr. Singh said: “We can’t make a demand, we can only appeal to Mr. Yadav that he leaves everything and quits.”
| 1 | The Supreme Court ordered the probe be transferred to the CBI. The SC also issued notices to the Madhya Pradhesh High Court, the Central government and M.P. Governor Ram Naresh Yadav on a plea seeking the Governor's removal from his post. |
| 2 | Police ordered a review of the suspicious death of MBBS student Namrata Damor. Her body was found near railway tracks in the Ujjain district in 2012 after her name figured in the scam. Earlier, police had registered a “murder” case in this regard and later termed the incident as an “accident” and closed the case. >Read more |
| 3 | Buckling under pressure, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made a U-turn and decided to seek a CBI investigation into the case. >Read more |
| 4 | Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition seeking removal of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav over his alleged involvement in the scam. >Read more |
| 5 | The Congress and Aam Aadmi Party demanded a SC-monitored probe in to the case following the spate of deaths. >Read more |
| 6 | Adding to the string of deaths, the body of trainee sub-inspector Anamika Sikarwar was found in a lake adjacent to the Police Training Academy at Sagar district headquarters in Madhya Pradesh. The Chief Minister quickly denied that the incident was linked to the Vyapam probe. |
| 7 | Whistleblower Ashish Chaturvedi, 26, claimed that there was a grave threat to his life and accused Mr.Chouhan of being “directly involved” in the scam, a charge rubbished by the CM. |
| 8 | It came after the unexplained death of journalist Akshay Singh who was covering the scam in Jhabua while Jabalpur Medical College Dean Arun Sharma, probing fake examinees, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel at Dwarka in south-west Delhi. Police on Monday said no foul play was suspected in the death of Sharma . >Read more |
| 9 | Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the government cannot direct a High Court or Supreme Court to order a CBI probe into the scam. >Read more |
| 10 | Two senior officers of the Special Task Force (STF) investigating the MPPEB scam claimed to have received threats allegedly from some influential people involved in the racket. >Read more |
