Vyapam: The scam that threatens to undo Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on October 30 clarified that he had got “confused” after being threatened with a defamation suit for alleging that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son Kartikey Chouhan was named in the ‘Panama Papers’.

“For campaigning, I am touring Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan these days. The ruling BJP has indulged in so many scams and corruption that I got confused yesterday,” Gandhi told a select group of journalists.

While clarifying his remarks on the Panama link, Gandhi, however, alleged that the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) CM indeed had a role in scams like Vyapam and e-tendering, among others.

Gandhi alleged that CM Chouhan’s “family” was involved in the Vyapam scam and he was ready to face defamation cases for his remarks.

The Vyapam scam has been haunting the BJP leadership for years now. Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam) or the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) is at the centre of a recruitment scandal, involving bribery and fudging of marks among others that is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Congress has been attacking the Chouhan government over its alleged involvement in the scam.

While the Vyapam issue has been around for years, it has only gathered steam over the last few years. Political observers suggest that the issue is likely to be an important factor in the upcoming assembly polls.

The state heads for polling on November 28. Counting of votes will take place on December 11 along with Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana.

What is the Vyapam scam all about?

Vyapam is a self-financed and autonomous body incorporated by the state government responsible for conducting entrance examinations.

These tests are held for recruitment in government jobs and admissions in educational institutes.

The scam involved a collusion of individuals who bribed politicians and Vyapam officials through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests.

Cases of irregularities in the exams were reported since the 1990s. However, a first information report (FIR) was filed in 2000. Such cases were not believed to be an organised ring until 2009.

The state government set up an investigation committee in 2009 after multiple complaints surfaced in the pre-medical test (PMT). More than 100 people were arrested based on the committee’s report in 2011.

No accused, however, has been convicted so far. As of July 2017, over 40 people linked to the scam had died largely under mysterious circumstances. The deaths include accused, witnesses and a journalist who was investigating the case.

The case blew up in 2013 when Indore police made several arrests related to the case. Interrogations and arrests uncovered involvement of several politicians, bureaucrats and MPPEB officials in the scam.

Over 2,000 people had been arrested in connect to the scam, including state’s ex-education minister Laxmikant Sharma. A special task force (STF) was established to probe the matter.

Political ramifications

In February 2014, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, Congress revealed information sourced from a “whistleblower” Prashant Pandey, alleging that the STF was protecting Chouhan.

Pandey, an external cyber expert who had been engaged by the STF, alleged that documents retrieved from the computer of Nitin Mohindra, principal analyst, Vyapam, had been tampered with, and 64 mentions of “CM” scrubbed out and replaced by other names.

In April 2015, the high court prima facie accepted STF’s report, saying material submitted by Pandey was “fabricated and forged”. Chouhan accused Digvijaya Singh of forgery.

In July 2015, the Supreme Court transferred investigation of the case to CBI.

In its election manifesto this time, Congress has promised to disband Vyapam and refund the examination fees of the lakhs of youth who had appeared for the recruitment tests conducted by the scam-hit board in the last 10 years.

Congress has said it will replace Vyapam with a “Rajya Karmachari Chayan Aayog” to ensure transparent recruitments and a corruption-free system.

However, Congress is also facing criticism for giving a ticket to another accused, MLA Phundelal Singh Marko from Pushprajgarh.

According to report by The Times of India, Congress state vice-president for media, Bhupendra Gupta, defended the decision, saying, “As far as we know, Marko was made an accused by STF but he is not an accused on the CBI list.”

“However, the case is sub judice and he cannot be judged guilty at this point of time,” Gupta added.