SSB Lecturette Series: All you need to know about Vyapam Scam

From last few months we are hearing about a controversial Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) known by its Hindi acronym “Vyapam”  (vyavsayik  Pariksha Mandal) established in 1970. The board was responsible for organizing recruitment examination for various government jobs and admissions in different educational institutes.  The Vyapam scam is an admission and recruitment scam. 

Politicians, senior officials and businessmen are involved in it. Irregularities in entrance exams for recruitment in government jobs and admissions in educational institutes of the state have been reported since mid 90’s. The first FIR was filed in 2000 in Chhatarpur district; seven cases were registered in 2004 in khandwa district. Such reports were seen as isolated cases. Until 2009 no one thought that such cases are part of an organized ring. When many complaints surfaced in the pre-medical test (PMT) in 2009, BJP led state government established a committee to investigate. Committee released its report in 2011, and more than hundred people arrested by the police.

 The sheer scale of the scam came to light in july 2013 when 20 people arrested by crime branch Indore in which 17 people from Uttar Pradesh for impersonating MPPMT candidate. The lid blew over what was apparently and entirely rigged system. Dr. Jagdish Sagar was arrested by the Indore police on 12 july 2013, nine days before the PMT counseling. A list of 317 candidates was confiscated from him; he considered being the mastermind of the scam.

Modus operandi of Vyapam scam

•    The selected candidates were advised to leave their answer sheets blank, they are given high percentage after the exam. Then they fill in the answers in the OMR booklet according to the marks they have already been given.
•    A person is fixed by the officials of board. He/she is seated between two other candidates who want a seat. He/she helps both of them copy from his/her own paper. The examiners are bribed to fix the seating arrangements.
•    All the details of admit card which is issued by board including name, date of birth, and roll numbers of the candidates who is applying for the seat, but the photograph is of the impersonator( an impersonator is one who writes an exam of behalf of someone else). They are brilliant students who can score high marks. After the exam related officials of the examination board change the photograph back to the original candidate

    Those who are arrested in connection with the impropriety also include MPPEB’s exam controller Pankaj Trivedi, system analysts Nitin Mahendra and Ajay Sen & state PMT examination in-charge Mr. C.K. Mishra. There were almost 2000 accused in this scam includes politicians and high ranking officials in the Madhya Pradesh government. Around 1900 are in jail and 500 said to be absconding. The farmer technical education minister in the BJP government in the state, Laxmikant Sharma was arrested for his involvement in the contractual teachers recruitment scam. CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his wife’s were also brought up by the Congress party. Congress leader KK Mishra had blamed that the CM’s wife Sadhna Singh had got one of her relatives appointed in the transport department. The charge was denied by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He said that he will not only take political sanyas but renounce the world If found guilty. 

   

    A number of people connected to the scam and investigation, died during the investigation. The opposition parties and activists alleged that several of these deaths happened under suspicious circumstance. Some media houses claimed that 45+ people associated with the scam had died under mysterious circumstance. On 29^th June 2015 special Task Force submitted a list of 23 people who believed to die unnatural death. The State Government denied the allegations, arguing that Vyapam conducts examination in very large-scale and thousands of candidates are recruited or admitted every year. The state government has announced for an independent CBI inquiry on 7^th July 2015 and reiterated that the state’s STF was doing a fine job.

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About the Author:      Prakashmaan Singh is working with department of posts under ministry of communication, India. He is a fitness freak and bodybuilding is his passion. Through his articles he wants to spread awareness and present his views on the topic so that exchange of thoughts can take place.