CBI files chargesheet in Vyapam scam case; Shivraj Singh Chouhan not named

Bhopal: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed chargesheet in Vyapam scam case and gave virtual clean chit to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The agency has said that there is no mention of 'CM' in hard disc seized, PTI reported.

Dismissing an allegation made by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, the CBI told the court that there was no tampering of the hard drives recovered in the case.

In April 2015, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) monitoring the probe into the scam had told the HC that the documents used by Singh to target Chouhan were forged.

They had said there was no tampering.

The original hard disk seized from or Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (MPPEB) official Nitin Mohindra had been sent to the forensic laboratory in Gandhinagar.

The Congress leader had alleged that the hard disk seized from an MPPEB official had been tampered with to ensure a clean chit to Chouhan. He had said that MP CM's name had been replaced in the original excel sheet with that of others.

Singh had identified the whistleblower who gave him the documents as Prashat Pande, an Indore-based cyber expert. He had identified himself as Mr X in a petition in Delhi HC.

The scam is related to manipulation in the selection process for government colleges and jobs conducted by the Madhya Pradesh professional examination board.

It involved the impersonation of candidates, rampant copying, blank answer sheets and fake marks.

The apex court had on July 9 ordered transfer of the probe into all Vyapam scam cases and the deaths allegedly linked to it to the CBI.

In a related incident, in April this year, Chouhan had deposed before a court in connection with a defamation suit filed by the state government on his behalf against a Congress leader for "maligning" him and his wife in relation to the multi-crore Vyapam scam.

The suit was filed against state Congress chief spokesman KK Mishra for purportedly dragging the names of Chouhan and his wife Sadhna Singh in the examination and recruitment scam.

In June 2014, Mishra had alleged in a press conference here that 19 youths from Gondia in Maharashtra, the native place of Chouhan's wife Sadhana Singh, were appointed constables in state Transport department after they cracked a recruitment test conducted by Vyapam.

Following the allegation, the state government had on behalf of Chouhan filed the defamation case.

(With Agency inputs)