The Supreme Court today ordered a CBI investigation in the massive admission and recruitment scandal in Madhya Pradesh that will also encompass deaths of people related to it as more skeletons tumbled out of the Vyapam cupboard with yet another witness reported dead.
Admitting a clutch of petitions seeking a CBI probe into the scam, the court also issued notices to the Centre and Madhya Pradesh government on the plea for removal of Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, who was made an accused in one of the cases but got relief from the high court on the ground of immunity from prosecution he enjoys while in office.
A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu asked the premier investigative agency to take over all Vyapam cases from the Special Task Force of the MP police by Monday and submit to it a report on July 24, when the court will take a call on monitoring the investigation, as sought by the petitioners.
The apex court's order transferring all Vyapam-related cases to the CBI came after the state government gave its consent to shifting investigation from the Special Investiation Team (SIT) and the Special Task Force (STF).
Before handing over the probe to the CBI, the apex court took on record the submission of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who on behalf of the MP government said the state has no objection to transferring the investigation in Vyapam scam and deaths of people allegedly related to it.
"The Attorney General (AG) on instruction states that MP govt has no objection whatsoever for transferring the investigation of criminal cases relating to Vyapam scam to the CBI and the cases related to deaths of those allegedly connected with the scam for free and fair probe.
"We appreciate the stand of the AG. In view of the above we transfer investigation of all criminal cases relating to Vyapam scam and death of people allegedly related to it, to CBI," the bench, also comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy, said.
The court was hearing a clutch of petitions filed by Congress leader Digvijay Singh, whistle blowers in the scam Ashish Kumar Chaturvedi and Prashant Pandey, besides AAP leader Kumar Vishwas and a group of lawyers.
