Ex-minister, ex-OSD quizzed in Vyapam

In an important development in the multi-crore Vyapam scam, the CBI recently questioned former state education minister Laxmikant Sharma and the former officer on special duty (OSD) to the Madhya Pradesh Raj Bhavan in connection with its investigations into the multi-crore recruitment scam.

Sources said, “The duo were examined in connection with the agency’s probe into the alleged illegalities committed in the state police subedar, sub-inspector and platoon commander recruitment examination conducted by Vyapam in 2012-13.” Mr Sharma was also examined in connection with the agency’s probe related to the alleged illegalities committed in the combined assistant programmer, IT operator, data entry operator and computer operator recruitment test conducted by Vyapam in 2013, they added. Mr Sharma and his OSD are among 20 accused named in an FIR registered by the CBI to probe massive irregularities in recruitments done by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), or Vyapam.

MP governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s former OSD Dhanraj Yadav was arrested by the state special task force in 2013 for his alleged involvement in the scam. The police later named the governor and his son Shailesh Yadav as accused. The FIR against the governor was quashed by the high court. His son was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his Lucknow residence.

Vyapam is a government body responsible for conducting several entrance tests in Madhya Pradesh. It recruits for government jobs and admissions to educational institutes. The Vyapam scam is allegedly a well-orchestrated rigging of entrance exams to help undeserving candidates, who allegedly bribed politicians and officials through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests. The scam dates back to 2004. More than 2,000 people have so far been arrested in connection with the scam, including Mr Sharma, over a hundred politicians, several Vyapam officials, bureaucrats, middlemen, students and their parents.