Shivraj Singh Chouhan. (File Photo: IANS)
Bhopal, September 24 (IANS) Seems that ghosts of the Vyampam scam will continue to haunt the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government as rechristening it twice in the past seven years could not suppress the fraud for long and it surfaced five years after the name change.
The Vyapam scam was an entrance examination, admission and recruitment scam. It was functional since the 1990s and was finally unearthed in 2013.
It first rocked the government in 2013, when it surfaced that candidates bribed officials to use imposters to take exams on their behalf.
The state government first rechristened it as Professional Examination Board (PEB) in 2015 and in February this year renamed it as Karmchaari Chayan Mandal (Staff Selection Board).
For the second time, an attempt was made to wash off the stains of Vyapam by changing its name, but with the kind of scams that are being unearthed in the recruitment examinations in the country, the Staff Selection Board, seems that the ghost of the scam will continue to haunt the state government.
Apart from all the entrance examinations held in the state, Vyapam has been conducting the recruitment of class III and IV employees as well.
Vyapam, earlier known as the PEB came into existence in 1970 conducting pre-medical tests for students seeking admissions to medical colleges in the state.
On the other hand, the Pre-Engineering Board was formed in 1980 for conducting the entrance examination for students seeking admissions in engineering colleges.
Later in 1982, both the medical and engineering boards were merged and named as the Professional Examination Board.
Vyapam used to conduct only Pre-Medical Test and Pre-Engineering Test till 2004, but from this year it has given the responsibility of recruitment in government jobs.
Vyapam, now known as the Staff Selection Board, will now function under the General Administration Department.
The irregularities in the examinations came to the fore after the 2013 Assembly elections. The turning point in this came when some people associated with the scam died suspiciously.
It involved many politicians and administrative officers who were ultimately arrested and sent to jail.
Late former Cabinet minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Sharma, his OSD O.P. Shukla, BJP leader Sudhir Sharma, Dhananjay Yadav, OSD to the Madhya Pradesh Governor, Madhya Pradesh Governor's son and Controller of Vyapam Pankaj Trivedi and computer analyst Nitin Mohendra names figured in the corruption and were sent to jail.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Ajay Singh Yadav, Vice President of Congress Media Cell, says that the BJP government thinks that changing the name of Vyapam will whitewash the taint on it, but it is not possible because Vyapam has destroyed the careers of thousands of youth in the state.
The people who were exploited, their talent has been wasted which even the coming generations will not be able to forget. The state government can change the name but the voices of the whistleblowers who exposed the Vyapam scam cannot be suppressed, Yadav added.
Over 40 suspicious deaths in Vyapam case continue to be a mystery
The Vyapam scam, which has irregularities in three categories -- impersonation, manipulation and engine- bogie (nexus between government employees and middlemen), came to light in 2013. The CBI in its several chargesheets has listed over 1200 accused in different categories, including forgery, bribery, misuse of government office and others.
However, more than the irregularities in conducting the exams in as many as 13 categories and recruitment of state government employees, including medical and teachers, a number of mysterious deaths of the accused and the witnesses after the scam surfaced shook the nation. And those deaths remain a mystery even today even as 50-55 cases have been disposed off by the special CBI court in Bhopal.
On record, there are more than 40 people associated with the scam who have died since it broke in 2013. A senior Public Prosecutor representing the CBI in the court said, "Over 55 people have died so far, including some during the court proceedings due to which many accused and co-accused were acquitted."
Most of the people who were either accused or witnesses in the cover-up have died due to alcohol-related illnesses, suicide or road accidents. At least ten middlemen have died in road accidents since 2010, three years before the scam broke.
The deaths include accused and witnesses as well as a journalist who was investigating the scam, and have largely been under mysterious circumstances. At least five persons died in strange circumstances, within a period of one week in 2015, including the dean of a Jabalpur medical college Dr Arun Sharma, medical student Namrata Damor and TV journalist Akshay Singh, who was probing the scam.
The other persons who died in suspicious circumstances include Shailesh Yadav, who was the son of then Madhya Pradesh Governor (late) Ramnaresh Yadav. Shailesh, who was named as an accused in the multi-crore Vyapam scam, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his father's official residence in March 2015.
Similarly, a constable Sanjay Yadav, who was a witness in the case was found dead at his house a day before he was to appear in the court. "See, there was a strong nexus of politicians, senior bureaucrats ans even police officials and they wanted to stop witnesses at any cast. People were targeted and killed. Who killed these people and who was behind it is still a mystery and is likely to remain so," said a Bhopal-based activist, who refused to identify himself.
