Digvijaya Singh submits affidavit before SIT, alleges Shivraj Singh Chouhan's involvement in Vyapam scam
Digvijaya Singh alleged that crucial pieces of evidences have been tampered with to protect them. He also demanded the chief minister's resignation.
The Madhya Pradesh (MP) job recruitment scam, also known as the 'Vyapam' scam, has come back to haunt Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan once again.
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh on Monday submitted a 15-page affidavit before Justice Chandresh Bushan-led Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court to monitor MP Special Task Force (STF) investigations into the scam.
Releasing a copy of the affidavit at the state Congress headquarters on Monday (it was later released to the media), former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh alleged that Chouhan was involved in the scam, along with his family members, and alleged that crucial pieces of evidences have been tampered with to protect them. He also demanded the chief minister's resignation.
'Manipulated'
"The data retrieved from the arrested system analyst's computer mentioned 'CM' in an Excel sheet. The analyst kept a record of names of candidates, their roll numbers and those who recommended the candidates. It was the recovery of the sheet that resulted in his arrest. However, the STF manipulated the Excel sheets and deleted the data," Singh alleged.
Besides Singh, senior state Congress leaders Kamalnath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Suresh Pachouri, state party chief Arun Yadav, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Satyadev Katare addressed the press conference.
"The investigating agencies have manipulated and replaced the word 'CM' with minister at 21 places, 'M/s' at one place and 'Uma Bharatiji' at seven places. Further, at 18 places the word 'CM' has altogether been removed, leaving just a blank," Singh claimed, adding this was done to ensure Chouhan's name did not figure anywhere in the case.
Senior lawyers Vivek Tankha and KTS Tulsi, who accompanied the Congress leaders, also said the data retrieved from the system analyst's computer was "manipulated and tampered with".
Reacting to the allegations, the state government called it "totally false and without any basis". Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, state health minister and government spokesperson Narottam Mishra said the allegations were part of "a routine exercise" of the Congress to tarnish the image of the government and the chief minister.
Big names
The STF has registered cases against 129 people in the job scam based on its investigation. High-profile individuals, including former education minister Laxmikant Sharma, his OSD O.P. Shukla, former examination controller Pankaj Trivedi, mining baron Sudhir Sharma, have already been arrested in the case.
MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav's son Shailesh has also been named as accused in the scam.