A 40-member team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrived in Bhopal on Monday to take over the probe into the recruitment scam in the Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam) and the over 40 deaths linked to it.
The team has arrived in Bhopal in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court.
The team held discussion with MP police officials and the Madhya Pradesh High Court-appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT), which hitherto monitored the investigation on a day-to-day basis, official sources said.
The CBI, tasked with the responsibility of probing the massive rigging of examinations for jobs and admission to various educational institutions, including medical colleges, conducted by the MP Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), also known as Vyapam, will take stock of the progress made in investigation so far and ascertain the number of cases needed to be registered by it.
The apex court had recently handed over to the CBI the investigation into criminal cases related to the Vyapam scam and the deaths linked to it.
Sources said the Special Task Force (STF), which was earlier looking into the Vyapam scam, will submit to the CBI around 10 tonnes — or two truckloads — of documents related to the case.
Around 2,100 people have been arrested in the Vyapam scam, and at least 491 accused are absconding.
The Congress has alleged so far 49 people linked to the scam in some way have died, though the official figure of “unnatural deaths” submitted by the SIT to the MP High Court so far stands at 25.
The scam involves several professionals, high-profile politicians and bureaucrats. The Congress has even accused Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of complicity and demanded his resignation.
