Vyapam, the killer Scam: Murder case in Damor’s death registered

Bhopal: Three years after Namrata Damor's body was found near the railway tracks in Ujjain, the CBI has registered a murder case in connection with the death of the 19-year-old student in January 2012. This is the first murder case which the CBI has registered since it took over the Vyapam scam investigation on Monday.

Vyapam is a massive scam which involves politicians and government officials allowing impostors to take exams for government jobs in Madhya Pradesh, and manipulating results, in exchange of vast sums of money.

More than 40 people connected with scam have died since 2010.

Damor was suspected of securing admission for MGM Medical College, Indore with the help of an accused in the Vyapam scam in 2010.

The Madhya Pradesh police concluded that her death was suicide even though doctors found evidence to the contrary in 2012.

The first autopsy report said that she had died due to asphyxia from smothering, and the three doctors who conducted the post-mortem also found bruises which indicated strangulation and semen on her clothes. But the second report from the Bhopal Medico Legal Institute concluded that it was suicide.

The CBI has registered seven FIRs related to the scam, including one against BJP leader Gulab Singh Kirar, who has been suspended from the party. Kirar, who enjoys minister of state rank, was removed on Thursday, a day after CBI filed its first cases in the scam. He was named even by the Special Investigation Team of the state police too last year, but the party did not act against him then.

Kirar is a member of the state backward class and minority welfare commission. He and his son Dr Shakti Pratap Singh are both named as accused in police records. The police had even announced a cash reward on Shakti Pratap, who allegedly topped a medical exam in 2011 using illegal means. The complaint was filed by Gwalior-based whistleblower Ashish Chaturvedi.