FILE photo: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in Delhi for an official meeting, today said he would visit the home of Akshay Singh, the journalist who died on Saturday while reporting on the Vyapam scam.
Talking to reporters, Mr Chouhan dismissed the Opposition Congress's demand that he must resign to ensure an impartial inquiry into the scam saying, "They have been demanding my resignation from the day I took over."
"I pleaded to the High Court for a CBI probe...This issue will come up in the SC, I will ask for a CBI probe there too," Mr Chouhan said, adding, "The questions raised in the past three-four days made me give in to the public sentiment...The atmosphere after Akshay's death created this."
On Tuesday, Mr Chouhan had requested the state High Court to order a CBI inquiry into the Vyapam recruitment scam. The High Court today turned down the Chief Minister's request, saying it cannot take that decision as the Supreme Court will hear petitions on it tomorrow.
At least 36 people linked to the scam have died. Akshay Singh was number 35 on the list of dead. While conducting an interview with the family of a young woman who had died in 2012, the journalist had begun foaming at the mouth and soon collapsed.
The Delhi-based journalist's death brought the scam and the alarming number of deaths, many mysterious, of people linked to it, into national focus.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had attended the funeral on Sunday. Today, Mr Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh too visited Akshay Singh's residence in East Delhi.
Mr Kejriwal has offered the journalist's sister a job and the family, financial help, Mr Sisodia said.