Vyapam, the killer scam: Shivraj to urge apex court to hand over probe to CBI

MP High Court refuses to hear the state govt's plea for a CBI probe

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said that he would request the Supreme Court that the investigation in the deadly Vyapam scam be handed over to the CBI. The Chouhan government is under fire as at least 48 people have died in the high profile scam.

Chouhan said, "The matter is about to come in the Supreme Court. We request for a CBI probe in the case. I have sent my request to the High Court asking for a CBI probe into the Vyapam case."

The Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has refused to hear the state government's plea for a CBI probe in the multi-crore scam and said it will wait for the Supreme Court ruling on petitions seeking CBI probe into the scam.

The apex court will deliver its verdict on July 9 on four petitions seeking a CBI probe in the high-profile scam.

Defending his government, Chouhan said, "Our government was responsible for the extensive probe so far. Even then, if there is still doubt, let the CBI probe bring truth out. The government is ready for a CBI probe and all those who are guilty should be punished."

Hitting out at the opposition for playing politics over the issue, Chouhan said, "Congress and opposition parties have nothing to do with Vyapam and the deaths in the case."

Refusing to comment on Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, who is also an accused in Vyapam scam, Chouhan said, "It's a Constitutional post and I can't comment on it. The case is already in the Supreme Court."

Chouhan had on Tuesday filed a plea in the Madhya Pradesh High Court for a CBI probe in the controversial scam.

Chouhan was under mounting pressure from opposition parties, particularly the Congress to order a CBI probe following the death of Arun Sharma, the dean of a Jabalpur medical college probing the scandal on Sunday in Delhi, a day after Akshay Singh, a journalist of the TV Today group on the Vyapam scam trail, mysteriously died minutes after he had interviewed the parents of a deceased girl accused.

Amid a raging controversy over the mysterious deaths, a former government official who is an accused in the case was sent back to jail on Tuesday evening after being briefly hospitalised.

OP Shukla, who was the Officer on Special Duty to former minister Laxmikant Mishra, who is also in jail as a prime accused in the scam that has acquired mega proportions, was admitted to the Government Hamidia Hospital in Bhopal on Monday evening after complaining of illness.

The 44-year-old is suffering from muscular dystrophy, high blood pressure and diabetes, MR Patel, the Superintendent of Central Jail in Bhopal, told the Press Trust of India.