A special CBI court has sentence 30 people found guilty of their involvement in the Vyapam scam to 7 years in prison. One more convict has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
Those convicted include 12 candidates, 12 imposters and 7 middlemen. The scam goes back to 2013 when people were caught cheating using impersonation in a police recruitment exam. It is alleged that the scam took place with the blessings of some of the most powerful people in the administration.
While six imposters were caught at the Bhopal exam center, 6 others were caught at the exam center in Datiya. They were charged for cheating and forging documents under sections 419, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC.
Most of the convicts hail from Bhind, Morena, Gwalior, Bhopal and Datiya. They were sent to Centra Jail directly from the court. Rahul Pandey, Ashish Kumar Pandey, Kulvijay, Abhishek Katiyar, Suyash Saxena, Prabhakar Sharma, Niraj a.k.a Tinku, Anil Yadav, Ajay Sankervar, Dharmesh Sahu, Phulkunwar, Devendra Sahu, Ajit Chaudhry, Bhupendra Singh Tomar, Santosh Sharma, Chandrapal Kashyap, Panjab Sahu, Ravishankar, Navis Jatav, Arun Gurjar, Udaybhan Sahu, Danish Dhakar, Antandar Sahu, Prithvendra Sahu Tomar, Sudep Shara, Ajay Pratap Sahu, Kalyanee Sahu Sikarwar, Gulvinder Singh Jat and Rajveer Singh a.k.a Bunty were ordered to serve a 7 year sentence. Pradip Tyagi was handed a 10-year sentence.
The CBI had filed a chargesheet in April 2017. The prosecution produced 91 witnesses to support their case.
However, this victory came at a steep price. Close to 40 people connected with the case ended up losing their lives. These include Namrata Damor, a young woman who was found dead near railway tracks in Ujjain district. Aaj Tak journalist Akshay Singh also died under mysterious circumstances after contacting Damor’s parents. Singh reportedly started frothing at the mouth while waiting outside Damor’s parents’house in Meghnagar in Jhabua district. Former Madhya Pradesh governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s son Shaliesh was also found dead under mysterious circumstances.
Related:
Is Vyapam Mega-Scam Being Whitewashed?
CAG report exposes lapses in Vyapam
