NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday carried out 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 the 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 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 the accused persons.
Following directions from the Supreme Court, the CBI 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 on a train near Jhansi. He has been admitted in a hospital in Gwalior. “The CBI officer concerned 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. Anything beyond this clarification is speculative.” CBI sources added.