Vyapam scam: CBI conducts searches at 40 places in UP, MP

Taking the Vyapam scam probe forward, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday carried out searches at nearly 40 places in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh including the premises of the alleged mastermind Jagdish Sagar and Dhanraj Yadav, a former officer on special duty to Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav.

The searches in connection with the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the examinations by MP Professional Examination Board, popularly known as Vyapam, spanned across Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Rewa, Jabalpur, Lucknow and Allahabad among other cities, CBI sources said.

They added that the searches are not case specific but were aimed at unravelling the larger conspiracy of alleged corrupt practices in the conduct of the examinations.        

The residential premises of Dhanraj Yadav, in Lucknow, Jagdish Sagar, former MP Minister Laxmikant Sharma and other suspects, including Bharat Mishra, Vinod Bhandari, Sudhir Sharma, Om Prakash Sharma, Nitin Mahindra among others are being searched, they said.         

The sources also mentioned that the office of the MP Professional Examination Board is also being searched by the CBI team.

The agency has registered over 105 cases in connection with various aspects of the Vyapam scam.

The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to take over all the Vyapam scam matters irrespective of their present status.

“Whatever is the stage of the case, you (CBI) will have to take over all the matters”, a bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu had said, while allaying the apprehension of the CBI that the Special Investigation Team and Special Task Force of state police may not cooperate with it if it takes over the cases which were in the trial stage.         

“You take over and the SIT/STF will cooperate with you, We will ask them to co-operate,” the bench, which also comprised Justices C Nagappan and Amitava Roy, had said.      

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the CBI, had said that there were difficulties in taking over 72 cases, which were at different stages of trial, as they were being prosecuted by the SIT/STF and their investigation officers may not extend cooperation to the CBI.