Vyapam scam: Shivraj Chouhan writes to Sonia, seeks action against Digvijaya

“She could not sleep for nights. You can understand her pain. Is it a crime to be the CM’s wife?’’ asked Chouhan while referring to Digvijaya Singh’s allegations that a hard disk had been tampered with to replace Chouhan’s name with that of others, and that text messages were sent from his wife’s phone.

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Chouhan is trying to do what Congress leaders did to him by calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi with what they called “documentary evidence about Chouhan’s personal involvement” and asking him to act against him.

He recalled that Digvijaya Singh was accompanied by Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia when he addressed a press conference in Bhopal.

Chouhan said he would ask Sonia Gandhi if she had authorised the leaders to level allegations against him, or else crack the whip against them “because the unsubstantiated charges took their toll on the Congress’s credibility”.

The CM claimed the Opposition wanted to mislead the investigation “to protect their own people” and to create an atmosphere of confusion and uncertainty about his (Chouhan’s) stay in office and added: “The Vyapam case is a proof of my honesty because I ordered the probe.’’

When asked if he would initiate criminal defamation proceedings against Digvijaya Singh, the CM avoided a direct reply. The BJP, however, has already announced that it was seeking legal opinion to explore that possibility.

Meanwhile, the Special Task Force has served a notice to Prashant Pande, the whistleblower who gave Digvijaya Singh a copy of the documents retrieved from the hard disk, asking him to reply within three days.

The Indore-based digital expert had moved to Delhi claiming a threat to his life and sought police protection.

Digvijaya Singh, while deposing before the SIT in Bhopal three days ago, had said that it was Pande who gave him the documents.

Pande was reportedly consulted by Indore police when the scam broke two years ago. While helping the police, Pande had copied the data, which he passed on to others.