Students jailed in Vyapam scam be made witnesses: Digvijay

Targeting the Union govt he says it removed Governors against whom there was no FIR, but retained the one against whom there was an FIR

Buoyed by the Supreme Court handing over the Vyapam scam probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Congress leader Digvijay Singh today demanded that students jailed in the case should be made prosecution witnesses to expose the "nexus" between corrupt officials, police and politicians in the scandal "bigger than the 2G scam".

Singh, who has been spearheading the campaign for an apex court-monitored CBI probe in the scam, said he did not expect Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to resign as "we do not expect morality from the BJP".

Read more from our special coverage on "VYAPAM SCAM"

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• After SC's decision, BJP says it was always for CBI probe
• Vyapam scam: Digvijay Singh welcomes SC decision ordering CBI probe

Asked whether he would demand that Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, who is allegedly involved in the scam, should quit, he said that he would "appeal" to the Governor to resign instead of making the demand.

"The Governor had fallen in bad company, so he will have to suffer", he said taking a dig at Chouhan.

Singh said, "Students who were made to believe that money was the only way to get admission to higher education in the state are behind bars but those who took the bribe are roaming free," while making a strong pitch for freeing the students and making them prosecution witnesses so that they could expose the corrupt people.

Targeting the Centre and BJP, the Congress leader said that it removed Governors against whom there was no FIR, but retained the one against whom there was an FIR.

Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, declared that his campaign would now be aimed against the sand mafia in the state which has already taken three lives, including that of a young IAS officer.

Claiming that Vyapam is a "bigger scam" than 2G spectrum allocation scandal, he said that it is for the first time that a record number of people are in jails in the case which has also seen a large number of deaths. Some 2,000 people are in jails and 600 are still absconding, he said.

Singh alleged that there was an RSS link to the scam, claiming that the names of some of its leaders had cropped up in the case.