Under relentless opposition attack, Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday filed a plea in High Court for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the controversial Vyapam Scam.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said that while he was satisfied with the probe being conducted by the Special Task Force, he would write to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, recommending probe into Vyapam scam by the central agency.
The Chief Minister, however, justified his earlier stand of not giving in to the demand for a CBI probe, reiterating that the state government had no authority to directly order the same in case of an ongoing court-monitored investigation.
“Loktantra lok lajja se chalta hai (public perception is important in democracy). Honouring public sentiments, I will request the high court for a CBI probe,” Chouhan said, adding “the functioning of the government should be beyond any doubt.”
“I have full respect for both High Court and the Supreme Court and have total faith in the ongoing probe into the Vyapam scam,” he said.
“Keeping into consideration the recent developments, it has now become important that the investigation be handed over to the CBI,” said Chouhan.
This came on a day when the Supreme Court decided to hear a plea seeking a CBI probe into Vyapam scam on July 9.
Chouhan was under mounting pressure from opposition parties, particularly the Congress to order a CBI probe following the death of Arun Sharma, the dean of a Jabalpur medical college probing the scandal on Sunday in Delhi, a day after Akshay Singh, a journalist of the TV Today group on the Vyapam scam trail, mysteriously died minutes after he had interviewed the parents of a deceased girl accused.
