Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressing the media in Bhopal
The Madhya Pradesh government is writing to the high court-constituted SIT probing the Vyapam recruitment scam to thoroughly investigate the death of TV scribe Akshay Singh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said today, a day after he died under mysterious circumstances.
Addressing a press conference in Bhopal, Mr Chouhan said his government has no objection if the Madhya Pradesh High Court gets the probe into the scam done by any other agency, including CBI, a demand made by Congress.
"It is very unfortunate. Our condolences are with his family...We are writing to the SIT with a request to carry out a thorough investigation," he said.
The Chief Minister said the post-mortem was conducted yesterday at the Dahod district hospital in Gujarat, where he was taken for treatment, by a panel of doctors and the final report of the post-mortem is awaited. The post-mortem has been videographed, he said.
"Every death is unfortunate and sad. We feel all the deaths (in the scam) should be probed...The state government had earlier written to the high court for probing the deaths," he said, adding that he will be writing again.
Mr Chouhan said that the state government had no role in the investigation in the Vyapam scam that has seen a number of deaths of accused/witnesses and those associated with it, since the high court was monitoring the probe being carried out by the SIT constituted by it.
"The high court is monitoring the probe through the SIT constituted by it. The high court has said the probe is carrying on fine under its monitoring and there is no need for a CBI probe.
"The moment the high court decided to monitor it, that very day the state government's role ended in the scam. When the probe is being carried out under court monitoring, the state government cannot be above the court or the Supreme Court," he said.
38-year-old Akshay, who worked for TV Today group, yesterday suddenly took ill in Meghnagar near Jhabua town and died after having interviewed parents of a girl who was found dead after her name figured in the Vyapam admission and recruitment scandal.
To a question whether the state has any objection to a CBI probe, a demand made by Congress, the Chief Minister said, "We have no objection if the high court wants a probe done from CBI or any other agency."
Mr Chouhan said that it was he who initiated the probe into Madhya Pradesh Professional Board Examination (MPPEB) scam, also known as the Vyapam scam, after irregularities came to light in the recruitments.
"I have not done any crime by getting an investigation done into the Vyapam scam. There was need to clean up the system," he said, adding that it was his government that put in place procedures for recruitment which were not there during the previous Congress government.
He also attacked Congress for "spreading lies" on the matter and said he did not find it worth to respond to its allegations.
Mr Chouhan said that the moment he came to know there is something wrong in the recruitments, he himself ordered a through probe into it.
"In the country's history, for the first time such a thorough probe is being conducted," he said.
The Chief Minister said since the high court is monitoring the scam probe, the state government is not involved.
"The high court is looking into everything. The high court has taken note of the deaths. We have full faith in the judiciary," he said.
The high court had earlier constituted the SIT to oversee the investigation being conducted by the Special Task Force (STF) into the scam.
Akshay Singh had yesterday called on the parents of Namrata Damor, whose body had been found under mysterious circumstances near railway tracks in Ujjain district in January 2012 after her name figured in the scam.
Namrata's father Mehtab Singh Damor said Akshay and two others visited their house yesterday afternoon. After the interview was over, one of them was sent to get certain papers photocopied.
As Akshay was waiting outside Damor's house, he suddenly started frothing at the mouth and collapsed, he said.
In another development, the Dean of a Jabalpur Medical College, suspected of having links to some accused in the scam, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel in south-west Delhi's Dwarka area this morning.
The body of Dr Arun Sharma, Dean of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, was found in his room at the hotel, police said.
At least 25 accused/witnesses have died so far in Vyapam scam, a massive admission and recruitment racket involving several bureaucrats and politicians, and the opposition Congress has been demanding a CBI probe in the matter.
Some reports have claimed that 44 people associated with the scandal have died so far.
The most high-profile death was that of Shailesh Yadav, son of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav. Shailesh, 50, was found dead at his father's residence in Mall Avenue area of Lucknow on March 25, this year.
Ram Naresh Yadav, also a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, was himself made an accused in the scam before getting relief from court.