New Delhi: The mystery behind the multi-crore Vyapam scam, which virtually reached the doorsteps of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, continued to grow. The CBI probe into the matter has hit a roadblock following the sudden disappearance of hundreds of accused. The country’s premier investigating agency, the CBI, is unable to trace nearly 170 accused, most of them candidates who appeared in rigged entrance examinations.
These accused are wanted in over 24 cases related to the scam. It was learnt that the CBI has photographs of 80 accused, but has not yet been able to identify these individuals as nothing is known about them beyond their pictures. The violation was so blatant that most of these 80 candidates, though used their original photographs, did not even fill their correct names and addresses in the admit cards.
“The agency has the photographs of all the 80 absconding accused, but they cannot be traced as they did not mention names and addresses correctly,” a senior CBI official said. In one particular case (RC 104/15), the CBI has been unable to trace 12 accused as the admit cards only had photographs and no other details in the admit cards. All these 12 accused had appeared for the Pre-Medical Test 2009, conducted by the Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam), a government-run hiring body responsible for conducting entrance tests for educational institutions in Madhya Pradesh.
In other cases, the accused candidates allegedly used fake names and addresses. The names — Sunil, Nihal Singh and Akash — mentioned on their admission slips appeared to be fake. “All three accused had appeared for Van Rakshak recruitment exam in 2013. The agency has registered a case (RC 97/15) against all three accused. In RC 32/15, the agency is looking for accused Satyaveer (name as it appeared with his photograph) in connection with irregularities committed in the Police Constable Recruitment exam in 2012. In this case also, the name of the accused is not the same as written on the photograph,” sources said.
The CBI is also using “advanced forensic software” to verify fake photos, if any, of the accused in the Vyapam scam, sources said, adding that this technology is currently being used by the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The CBI has so far filed more than 60 chargesheets against 150 accused in the scam. CBI investigations point to widespread collusion among candidates, government officials, state-level politicians and middlemen in the scam. Undeserving candidates bribed Vyapam officials through middlemen to make proxies appear for the examination. The Supreme Court had transferred the probe of all cases related to the Vyapam scam to the CBI.
The Vyapam scam dates back to 2004. More than 2,000 people have been arrested. The scam also dragged the name of the former state governor Ram Naresh Yadav.
