The CBI on Thursday conducted searches at around 40 places in 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.
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 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.
The multi-city 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 MP, Allahabad and lucknow in UP at the residential and official premises of accused persons.
“The accused persons who had played a crucial role in perpetrating or orchestrating the scam include then Minister of Technical Education, MP Government (six cases), then Controller, Vyapam (11 cases); then Principal System Analyst, Vyapam (11 cases); then System Analyst, Vyapam (nine cases); another then System Analyst, Vyapam (10 cases); 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 five others were involved in multiple cases that have been taken over by the CBI for investigation,” the agency said in a statement.
Following directions from the Supreme Court, the CBI has started 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 / materials recovered during the searches are being scrutinised for further investigation,” the agency spokesperson further said.
CBI Deputy on Vyapam trail ends up in hospital
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 undergoing treatment. Anything beyond this clarification is speculative,” CBI sources added.