The Congress welcomed the Supreme Court order on Thursday transferring the investigation into the Vyapam scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation, and said it was a vindication of what the party had been saying all along.
Hours after the Supreme Court’s decision, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of “corruption-free governance”. “I just want to repeat what the Prime Minister had said. He said Na khauunga, na khaane doonga [Neither will I indulge in corruption nor let anyone else do it]. Your words should carry weight, Pradhan Mantriji . Why is that you have allowed them to do it in Rajasthan? Why haven’t you brought [Lalit] Modi back? And why are you letting [Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister] Shivraj Singh Chouhan do it,” Mr. Gandhi asked on the sidelines of an All India Mahila Congress meeting.
The court’s decision has come as a boost for the Congress ahead of the monsoon session. The party had failed to rally a large number of Opposition parties behind it in the Lalit Modi immigration scandal. But the Vyapam scam drew strong reactions from different quarters.
CPI national secretary D. Raja said: “There will be convergence on this issue irrespective of what other Opposition parties feel on other issues.”
| 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 |
Published - July 10, 2015 02:42 am IST
