Upping the ante on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh on the Vyapam scam, Congress leader Digvijay Singh has approached the Supreme Court seeking CBI investigation into the case under apex court monitoring.
He told reporters that he has filed a petition in the apex court at a time when the scandal is becoming murkier by the day with at least 24 accused and witnesses having died so far under mysterious circumstances. Some reports have claimed that there have been 40 such deaths.
The Congress general secretary claimed that the Special Investiation Team of the state police currently investigating the scam has expressed its "helplessness" in the matter given its magnitude and the alleged involvement of top officials of the police, civil services and judiciary as also BJP and RSS leaders.
He sought strict action in the matter given the fact that it involved the appointment of some 1,30,000 in state government services over a period of time for which over one crore people have applied.
He noted that former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is in jail following irregularities in the appointments of just 130 teachers.
Asked whether the buck stops at the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, he sarcastically said that Chouhan is a "poor little guy" who did not notice anything amiss despite lot of things happening around him. Congress has accused Chouhan of complicity in the scam.
Replying to a question, Singh said that he had approached the Supreme Court once earlier in the case when the Court had felt that the SIT was looking into it.
Vyapam scam is a massive admission and recruitment scandal involving politicians, bureaucrats and middlemen. Several politicians including former education minister Laxmikant Sharma, a host of officials and scores of aspirants have been arrested in the case.
