Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan threatens to file defamation case as Congress links him to a multi crore education scam

Alleged financial and administrative irregularities, including unauthorised disposal of application forms, worth crores of rupees by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) have been pointed out in an audit report. The audit, which was conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Local Fund Audit office for 2007-08, found a difference of about Rs 4 crore in revenue earned from sales of application forms by the MPPEB or 'Vyapam'. For more on the scam, click here.

Rubbishing allegations of wrongdoings in Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam, state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said he will soon file a defamation case on the issue.

However, he did not specify against whom he wished to do so. "We have verified all information about allegations and have made all preparations to file a defamation case and would give statement in the court," Chouhan told reporters at the party office here, without taking any name.

State Congress chief spokesman K K Mishra had last week demanded a CBI probe to unearth the "nexus among middlemen, politicians, bureaucrats and education mafia which is behind the scam." He had alleged that Chief Minister's relatives played a dubious role in the scam. He claimed he was in possession of some SMSes which were purportedly sent by various people, including politicians and even some journalists among others, to the MPPEB exam controller Pankaj Trivedi and the system analyst Nitin Mahindra- both the main accused in the case- and mining baron Sudhir Sharma.

Hitting back at Congress, the Chief Minister clarified in a series of tweets that not even a single relative of his wife was selected as a constable in the Transport Department. "Did thru (through) Vyapam (MPPEB) 17 relatives of my wife from Gondia get selected in parivahan aarakshak exam? Not even one. Nor from entire Maharashtra," Chouhan tweeted. "The entire list of select parivahan aarakshak was available on the departmental website. They did not dare to even have a look at it," he said in another tweet.

Referring to the charge that 139 calls were made from the CM house as alleged by K K Mishra, Chouhan tweeted, "They say 139 phone calls from CM House and issue a Call Detail Report (CDR) where not even one call number is from CM house." "Just as a lie has no legs to stand on, a CDR has no legs of its own. It requires substantiation. They do not even see the CDR," he said. 

They say that 139 phone calls from CM house and issue a Call Details Report where not even one call number is from CM house.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

Just as a lie has no legs to stand on, a CDR has no legs of its own. It requires substantiation. They do not even see the CDR.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

In another tweet, Chouhan also hit back at the media for not checking facts saying, "Do they not attempt any fact checking on their own before carrying out such ill-motivated baseless canards in media?" 

Do they not attempt any fact checking on their own before carrying out such ill- motivated baseless canards in media?

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

Read more about Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Twitter outburst here

REACTIONS: 18:09 IST Monday, 23 June 2014

Vyapam Scam just the tip of 'corruption' iceberg in MP: Digvijaya Singh
"I am happy that at least the media has finally understood. I am thankful that Hindi channels have taken it up. I will reveal some more pertaining to this scam within the next few days. What you are seeing is just the tip of an iceberg. Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti had herself said that this scam is even bigger than the fodder scam. Now you see even her name surfacing, this is nothing but a ploy by the Chouhan government to save its skin by keeping her name as a shield. Uma Bharti had demanded a CBI probe, then why has the government not paid heed to it," Digvijaya Singh said. Read more

Vyapam Scam: CPI hits out at BJP's insincerity on fighting corruption
Commenting on the Vyapam Scam in Madhya Pradesh, which has placed the BJP on the wrong foot, Anjan said, "Those who were brandishing the tag of being a votary of being honest has been found deeply involved in corruption. Madhya Pradesh chief minister's wife, including Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, and other government officials and other BJP leaders role in this case have surfaced,. Former minister Sharma's arrest proves that an estimated 300 to 400 crores of corruption had taken place." Read more 

BACK STORY:

Irregularities worth crores of rupees in MPPEB: Audit report
Alleged financial and administrative irregularities, including unauthorised disposal of application forms, worth crores of rupees by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) have been pointed out in an audit report. The audit, which was conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Local Fund Audit office for 2007-08, found a difference of about Rs 4 crore in revenue earned from sales of application forms by the MPPEB or 'Vyapam'. The MPPEB conducts entrance and recruitment tests for admission in medical and engineering courses, and selection in certain government services, among others. The Board was to collect about Rs 9 crore from sales of application forms for Pre-Master of Computer Application (Pre-MCA) from candidates of General and Other Backward Classes categories. It was also to collect about Rs 90 lakh from sales of application forms for PET (Pre Engineering Test), said the report. However, about Rs 4 crore was shown in the Board's ledger, said the audit report, which was accessed through the Right to Information (RTI) Act by activist Ajay Dubey. The report cited unauthorised disposal of application forms allegedly on the directions of the then chairman of the Board. The Board earns revenue from sale of application forms. As per rules, any documents or receipts which have money values should not be destroyed. Read more 

Over 100 students arrested in Madhya Pradesh
Over 100 students who allegedly cleared the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) through unfair means have been arrested by the Special Task Force from different districts of Madhya Pradesh, STF sources said today. The students were arrested since yesterday from various places in the state, they said. The PMT was conducted by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) whose top officials were already arrested by the STF since the scam surfaced in 2013. "The figure would go up as arrests are continuing even today, but so far over 100 medical students have been arrested by the STF in connection with the PMT scam," an STF official said today. The arrests were carried out after Madhya Pradesh High Court, which is monitoring the scam, directed the STF to submit a status report in the matter on June 30, sources said. The arrests were made from different districts, including Indore, Dhar, Jhabua, Khargone, Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Jabalpur and Sagar, after state Director General of Police directed all the district police chiefs in this regard. Read more