Vyapam scam: CBI chargesheet names 592 in 2012 PMT test case

New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) The CBI on Thursday filed a chargesheet against 592 persons in the multi-crore Vyapam examination scam linked with 2012 Pre Medical Test (PMT) case.

Of the total persons named in the chargesheet filed in a Bhopal court, 245 are new names while remaining 347 are those who have already been named as accused in the CBI's October 31 Vyapam chargesheet on the probe related to the 2013 PMT case.

Those named in the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet include four Vyapam officials; 26 officials, including chairmen, of four medical colleges based at Bhopal and Indore, 22 middlemen, 46 invigilators of examination centres, 155 guardians of beneficiary candidates, three racketeers, 334 paper solvers and beneficiary candidates and two former officers of the states' Medical Education Department.

Former Medical Education Director S.C. Tiwari and ex-Joint Director Medical Education M.N. Srivastava are among the prominent persons, while four former Vyapam officials named are former Director Pankaj Trivedi, former Senior System Analyst Nitin Mohindra, former Deputy System analyst Ajay Kumar Sen and Programmer C. K Mishra.

The scam in Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam) or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board broke out in 2013, wherein candidates bribed officials and rigged exams by deploying imposters to write their answersheets. The scam began in 1995 involving politicians, senior officials and businessmen.

The CBI took over investigation following the Supreme Court order on July 9, 2015.

The charge sheet was connected to the Pre-Medical Test of 2012 -- one of several cases of irregularities in examinations conducted by Vyapam.

The PMT was conducted on June 10, 2012 and thereafter, result was sent to the Director, Medical Education by Vyapam for counselling and allotment of successful candidates to various medical colleges which was done from July 17, 2012, the charge sheet said.

After the PMT 2012 results were declared, the paper solver candidates were encouraged by the middlemen and racketeer in conspiracy with the accused officials of the four private medical colleges to opt for these four colleges during the counseling for PMT 2012, it said.

According to the chargesheet, as the paper solver candidates had obtained high ranks in the examination, they easily got allocated to these private medical colleges during counselling. But after allotment of state quota MBBS seats, they did not take actual admission.

"However, the college administrations and the college admission committee of these four medical colleges allegedly gave false information to Department of Medical Education that these students had taken admission in the college, so that the state quota seats so that further counselling of successful candidates who were next in the waiting list was not done," it said.

These students were allegedly given monetary payments through middlemen for vacating the seats and later the administrative authority of these four private colleges admitted students of their own choice from September 28 to September 30, 2012 without following the due process.

"Majority of the students who were admitted had not even taken PMT exam."

The chargesheet said the Department of Medical Education in connivance with these private medical colleges did not ever cross-check the information being provided by these private colleges and on the contrary aided and abetted them in legitimizing the illegal admissions against state quota seats in these colleges.

Over 40 persons, including witnesses, accused, and alleged beneficiaries, died in mysterious circumstances ever since the scam broke out. These included a son of the then Governor Ram Naresh Yadav. Some died in freak accidents or of mysterious illnesses.

Opposition Congress has repeatedly blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the deaths, which it alleged is a cover-up for the racket. Chouhan and the BJP deny the charge.

CBI investigations revealed that these solver candidates were among medical college students or bright medical college aspirants taking coaching in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra.

"The CBI collected pertinent details of students of various medical colleges and coaching institutes spread all over these states and prepared a data base of more than 10 lakh such students," the chargesheet said.