Vyapam scam: Ex-Madhya Pradesh minister Laxmikant Sharma among 87 chargesheeted

Bhopal: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed chargesheet against 87 accused, including a former Madhya Pradesh minister Laxmikant Sharma, in connection with the VYAPAM scam.

The central investigation agency had in January named at least 592 persons in its chargesheet in connection with the VYAPAM scam.

According to reports, the CBI had chargesheeted Sharma, a former Madhya Pradesh technical education minister, and his then officer-on-special-duty (OSD), OP Shukla, in one of the several cases related to the Vyapam scam.

Media reports quoted a CBI source as saying that Sharma was charged with getting a person of his choice, Pankaj Trivedi, appointed as the Controller of Examinations in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board also called (Vyapam).

Through Trivedi, Sharma reportedly pushed for selection of favoured candidates in the Samvida Shala Shikshak Patrata Pariksha Varg-3 Exam, conducted by Vyapam in 2011.

Besides Sharma, Shukla and Trivedi, the CBI has named at least 592 others in the FIR.

Sharma and Shukla had already spent time in prison in 2014 after the Madhya Pradesh STF, which investigated the case earlier, named them and 55 others in its chargesheet.

Sharma, is also an accused in six other Vyapam cases.

The CBI had earlier named four former VYAPAM officials in its chargesheet in connection with the alleged fraud in PMT exams in 2012.

The four former VYAPAM officials who were named in CBI chargesheet were Pankaj Trivedi (the then director VYAPAM), Nitin Mohindra (the then Senior System Analyst), Ajay Kumar Sen (the then deputy system analyst) and CK Mishra (the then programmer).

The CBI also named chairpersons of several private colleges in connection with the case.

Those named in the CBI chargesheet were Ajay Goenka, Chirayu Medical College, SN Vijaywargiya, Peoples Medical College, Suresh Singh Bhadauria, Medical College Bhopal and JN Chowkse, LN Medical College.

The CBI had earlier given a clean chit to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the VYAPAM scam. 

The scam is related to manipulation in the selection process for government colleges and jobs conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) or VYAPAM.

It involved the impersonation of candidates, rampant copying, blank answer sheets and fake marks.

So far, the CBI has filed more than 110 charge sheets in connection with the Vyapam scam and named more than 1,600 people as accused in these cases.

The cases related to Vyapam scam and the deaths allegedly linked to it were transferred to the CBI on the direction of the apex court.

The agency’s investigation so far had revealed that the accused and alleged middlemen collected details such as roll numbers and form numbers of favoured candidates and provided them to the then principal system analyst Nitin Mohindra in Vyapam.

(With PTI inputs)