The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case in connection with the MP Professional Examination Board (PEB) scam pertaining to irregularities in admission of students with alleged connivance of officials and politicians.
The central probe agency has named former state Higher Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma and 27 others in its Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), akin to a police FIR.
Sources said the agency has taken cognisance of the FIR and preliminary probe done by MP Police's Special Task Force (STF) in this case and has identified assets of the accused which will be attached under criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The agency will soon move court to question those arrested in this case till now.
The agency has also obtained documents related to the financial transactions of the accused including some suspected 'benami' bank accounts that were used to channelise ill-gotten money from the aspirants of government jobs as bribe.
Chouhan had admitted in the state Assembly on January 15 that 1,000 out of the over 1.47 lakh appointments and selections made by MP Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) since 2007 were found to be fake.
He had stated that those found guilty will not be spared irrespective of his/her position.
"The scam was unearthed in 2009 and we immediately ordered a probe into it and asked the concerned authorities to look into it (selections/appointments) since 2006.So far, 1,000 out of 1.47 lakh appointments and selections made by MPPEB have been found to be fake," Chouhan said replying to the Motion of Thanks in the state Assembly on the Governor's address.
In view of the magnitude of the scam, the state government decided to handover the case to the STF.
The MPPEB had last year disqualified those students who had been identified by the probe agencies and allegedly benefited from irregularities in the entrance examination.
The impersonation scam involving ghost writers was unearthed in September last year.
The STF had also filed a charge sheet in the Indore bench of the high court against 28 persons including some officials of the board. The scam relates to manipulation of selection process for government jobs for which exams were conducted by the MPPEB.
The STF has filed FIRs against 130 people including former Minister Sharma, who has been linked to irregularities in selection of teachers.
The Opposition Congress has demanded that the case be handed over to CBI.