NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday carried raids and searches at around 40 places across Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, including the premises of alleged mastermind Dr Jagdish Sagar and Dhanraj Yadav, former OSD to MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav besides those of former Minister of Technical Education Laxmikant Sharma in connection with the probe into Vyapam cases.
The CBI also searched the premises of alleged racketeers Dr Vinod Bhandari (Managing Director of Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences), Tarang Sharma, Sanjeev Saxena, Bharat Mishra and Sanjeev Shilpkar, agency sources said.
Premises of then Controller of Vyapam Pankaj Trivedi, Principal Technical Analyst Nitin Mahindra, System Analysts Ajay Sen and Chandrakant Mishra, then OSD to former Minister Laxmikant Sharma, Om Prakash Shukla were also searched.
The CBI sleuths carried raids were conducted at 23 locations in Bhopal, five in Indore, two in Bhind and the rest in Rewa, Ujjain, Vidisha, Chhattarpur, Jabalpur, Ashok Nagar and Badwani in Madhya Pradesh, Allahabad and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh at the residential and official premises of accused persons in an on-going investigation relating to alleged Vyapam cases.
The accused persons who had played a crucial role in perpetrating or orchestrating the scam, include then Minister of Technical Education, Madhya Pradesh Government (6 cases), then Controller, Vyapam (11 cases); then Principal System Analyst, Vyapam (11 cases); then System Analyst, Vyapam (9 cases); another then System Analyst, Vyapam (10 cases); then OSD to then Minister of Technical Education; then OSD to Governor of MP and certain racketeers including then Managing Director of an Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore and 5 others were involved in multiple cases that have been taken over by CBI for investigation.
Following directions from Supreme Court, CBI has started taking over the investigation of Vyapam cases from July 15, 2015, which were earlier registered by the Madhya Pradesh Police. The CBI has so far re-registered around 112 FIRs.
“Incriminating documents and materials recovered during the searches are being scrutinized for further investigation,” the agency spokesperson further said.
In the meantime, a CBI Deputy SP Bindu Shekhar Jha, who was part of a backup of the probe team, was found unconscious in a train near Jhansi. He has been admitted in a hospital in Gwalior.
“The concerned CBI Officer was posted in a Delhi based Unit. He was not connected with Vyapam related investigation in any manner. He was sent to Madhya Pradesh to support Vyapam searches in case of a requirement. However, he reportedly had a brain haemorrhage on the way and did not reach the destination. He was rushed to the nearest hospital where he is under treatment. Anything beyond this clarification is speculative.” CBI sources added.
More than 35 people associated with the scam have died mysteriously or in accidents and suicides.
The scam came to limelight after Akshay Singh died in mysterious circumstances while interviewing the parents of Namrata Damor, a MBBS student who was found dead near railway track in Ujjain in January 2012. Even as Akshay Singh was talking to the Damor’s father, he began frothing at the mouth and collapsed. The CBI has also registered Preliminary Enquiry in Akshay Singh death.