Dr Anil Singh
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to order the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to examine not just the swindle but the spate of deaths purportedly associated with the Vyapam scam has been welcomed by all and sundry. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, who had been rejecting the Opposition’s demand for a CBI probe, was compelled to call for a CBI investigation in the wake of the Supreme Court agreeing the other day to hear petitions asking for the CBI to be entrusted with the probe.
Vyapam stands for Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal, that is the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), which is known by its Hindi acronym Vyapam. In view of reported irregularities in admission in state-run medical colleges and recruitment in government jobs, it has been given the connotation of Vyapam scam.
In the wake of numerous witnesses and accused, associated with this scam directly or indirectly, dying under mysterious circumstances, this scam has emerged as a major political controversy. The reported collusion of top politicians, bureaucrats and others in recent years led to huge amounts of money being paid to allow imposters to take the qualifying exam for government jobs.
Unearthing of a major scam in 2013, involving several officials and politicians in the recruitment swindle, led the government of Madhya Pradesh to get the case investigated by a special team of the Madhya Pradesh police to be monitored by the Jabalpur High Court. However, the Opposition demand for a probe by CBI was ruled out by the state government.
The Vyapam scam started getting murkier with each passing day and in the wake of mounting deaths of persons under mysterious circumstances, who were associated with this scam, the government drew flak from the Opposition and the media. However, the death of TV Today journalist Akshay Singh under mysterious circumstances, the death of a trainee sub-inspector who was recruited through Vyapam and another death of a medical professional in the first week of July evoked tremendous public outcry.
Buckling under the mounting pressure from public and the media, the state government approached the Jabalpur High Court with the request to hand over the case to the CBI and the High Court did not accede to the request saying that the issue was pending before the Supreme Court. Recently, the Supreme Court has not only admitted the pleas and ordered the CBI to probe the scam related cases, it has also criticised the High Court for not taking the decision and passing the buck to the apex court.
The magnitude of the Vyapam scam is mind-boggling. According to broad estimates, 2,530 people have been accused since 2012, of which around 1,980 people have been arrested and 550 are still at large. About 55 cases registered in connection with the scam are being looked into by 20 courts in Madhya Pradesh. The government says more than 1,000 ‘illegal appointments’ have been facilitated through Vyapam, although whistle-blowers claim the figure is much higher.
The modus operandi of the swindlers inter alia included leakage of question papers, rigging of answer sheets, hiring of impersonators to sit for candidates, and selling of seats to the highest bidder. According to broad estimates, anything between one million rupees and seven million rupees was paid for a seat. Apart from gleaning electronic information from at least five hard drives, innumerable pen drives and laptops, the investigators have also reportedly examined nearly 10,000 photographs of students, many of which were forged by impersonators.
Undoubtedly, reports of irregularities and crooked deals in Vyapam were surfacing since 2009; nevertheless, it was the unearthing of a major scam in 2013 that led to the arrest of the kingpin of the impersonation racket, the ex-education minister of MP, MPPEB’s exam controller, MPPEB’s system analysts and state PMT’s examination in-charge.
There were also reports about the alleged involvement of the MP Chief Minister and his wife as well as MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav and his son Shailesh in the Vyapam scam. An FIR was filed against the Governor in 2014 alleging that he had tried to ensure candidates of his choice were selected as forest guards. Shailesh Yadav was accused of allegedly accepting kickbacks in exchange for ensuring government jobs for teachers, but he did not manage to deliver. However, the Jabalpur High Court said the Governor was constitutionally entitled to immunity while in office and could not be investigated for criminal wrong-doing. Shailesh Yadav was found dead in Lucknow in March this year.
Interestingly, the enforcement directorate had registered a criminal FIR in March 2014 to probe alleged financial irregularities and laundering instances in the MPPEB scam. The agency had named a former state higher education minister and 27 others in its FIR. ED investigators have reportedly attached assets worth over `3 crore of an alleged mastermind of the scam in connection with their probe in April.
The BJP leadership, both at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh, had harped on the same tune that the probe being conducted by the SIT of state police and being monitored by the Jabalpur High Court was proceeding on the right track and the Opposition’s demand of a probe by the CBI was rejected on almost all occasions. The MP Chief Minister continued to vacillate for the past two years between protesting that “not all deaths should be linked to Vyapam” and claiming credit by saying he ‘ordered’ the probe with “pavitra intent”. Some experts feel that the Chief Minister seemed to be more aggressive about defending his ‘besmirched honour’ than championing the cause of the families of the victims.
The mounting criticism of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh by the Opposition, especially the Congress and the media, especially after the death of a TV journalist, had created a flutter within the BJP as well. Union minister Uma Bharati’s interview to a TV channel saying that she was scared in the wake of Vyapam developments was perhaps a decisive statement leading the BJP to agree to the demand for a CBI probe.
Amongst the Opposition parties, the Congress has been more aggressive in its attacks on the MP Chief Minister for the deaths and in linking them to the Vyapam scam, while demanding that there should be a Supreme Court monitored CBI probe. The Congress has often accused persons at the highest levels of the MP government of being involved in the scam, including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, his wife and Ram Naresh Yadav. The Congress has alleged that these influential persons used their power to push for candidates, via several middlemen of their choice, to be admitted to certain curses or recruited to certain posts.
The Vyapam scam, apart from its corruption aspects, may entail political implications for the BJP, which is seemingly divided into the Modi camp and the Advani camp. Shivraj Singh Chauhan reportedly belongs to Advani camp. It is perhaps on that count that the BJP leadership has not defended Chauhan as it did the two other senior leaders in trouble — Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj. The Modi camp, like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has a dislike for ‘strong CMs in the states.’
With the Vyapam investigation shifting to the CBI, the political pressure on beleaguered Chouhan may ease for a while, but the opposition aggression will now shift to Delhi, where the Modi government will have to face a stormy monsoon session of Parliament. According to one opinion, while the CBI’s investigations will open a Pandora’s Box, the chances are its entry will do more political damage to the BJP than secure actual convictions of the guilty.
The author is executive editor with Aaj Tak. The views
expressed in this article are the author’s own