“Vyapam has now become ‘vyapak’ (comprehensive). We met the Prime Minister over the Vyapam issue, which is perhaps the biggest scam in India. This time we have furnished solid evidence before the Prime Minister.

“Before the Lok Sabha polls, the Prime Minister used to claim that neither he will engage in corruption nor will allow anybody to do it... Now we expect the Prime Minister to take the matter into his own hands and ensure action to live by his words. We hope that the Prime Minister will stick to what he had said,” former Union Minister Kapil Sibal said outside Parliament.

He was talking to reporters after the delegation the Prime Minister in Parliament House. It included Mr. Sibal, Mr. Digvijaya Singh, Mr. Kamal Nath and Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Irregularities in recruitments in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examinations Board, also known as Vyapam, have been in the news for long and the Congress has been demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister.

The Special Task Force of the state cannot investigate the matter impartially against Mr. Chouhan as long he remains the Chief Minister, the Congress has claimed.

Mr. Sibal said the delegation submitted a CD and excel-sheet document to the Prime Minister that mentions “Chief Minister” against the names of as many as 48 of the 131 illegal appointees.

The Congress leaders claimed that this was the original excel-sheet from the computer hard disk of Nitin Mohindra, the main accused in the scam.

“The hard disk was tampered with earlier and the name of CM was removed from there and that of Uma Bharti was given so that the probe does not bring under its ambit the Chief Minister,” Mr. Sibal claimed.

“We have got the CD tested from an IT lab, which confirms that this is the original disk. This has made it clear that the name was later changed in a duplicate disk. Now the Prime Minister should take action,” Sibal said.

Mr. Digvijaya Singh, a known detractor of Mr. Modi, said he met the Prime Minister for the first time. “His credibility will depend on what he does into this matter after saying so much about fighting corruption. If he does not take action, it means he is also part of the scam,” Mr. Singh said.

In a letter submitted to the Prime Minister, the Congress leaders said the excel-sheet with them was the original one and what has been filed before court is a “tampered version“.

“To our misfortune, the High Court of Madhya Pradesh laid its trust on STF constituted by the state of Madhya Pradesh, whose control vests with the Chief Minister,” the letter said, adding that since the agency is under the state government, the scam has only gone bigger with the passage of time.

They said the tentacles of the scam engulfing Madhya Pradesh are spread across many states and is one of the biggest appointment and recruitment “racket” for government services and admissions to professional course.

Instead, it shows Union minister Uma Bharati’s name in 17 places, the state Governor’s office against several appointees and the word “minister” against 21 appointees.

The Congress has been alleging that Mr. Chouhan used the STF to tamper with evidence and tried to shield himself by highlighting Uma Bharati’s name in the scam.

“Chouan defamed Uma Bharati and the state Governor to save his skin. Now we have presented very solid evidence,” Mr. Singh said. The Congress leaders said they will present the “whistle-blower” of the case before the national media soon.

Mr. Kamal Nath said the surfacing of the disk makes it clear that the name was changed earlier.

He said the delegation also raised the issue of hailstorm in Madhya Pradesh and the resultant huge losses to farmers.

“We have given a memorandum in this regard to the Prime Minister and demanded that it be declared a national calamity. Farmers were not compensated properly when it had happened there last time. This time our demand is that they are properly compensated,” the Congress said.

 

 

src:sify.com