Vyapam medical scam: CBI chargesheets 592

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Thursday, filed chargesheet against 592 people in the multi-crore Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, wherein medical seats were allotted in large scale by four private colleges in defiance of all laid out norms and guidelines issued by the Centre, state government, and the Supreme Court.

The colleges, according to the chargesheet, also violated the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Also the agency has written to Madhya Pradesh to take proper action against 229 students who took admission in these colleges violating all laws and paid hefty amount from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

The charge-sheet lists promoters of three private medical colleges from Bhopal – JN Choksey, chairman of LN Medical College; SN Vijaywargiya of People’s Medical College and Ajay Goenka of Chirayu Medical College; and one from Indore – Suresh Singh Bhadoriya of Index Medical College – among others. The charge-sheet was filed in connection with CBI’s probe into the PMT 2012 examination.

Also four former Vyapam officials are named in the chargesheet and they are identified as Pankaj Trivedi, the then director of Vyapam, Nitin Mohindra, the then Sr Systems Analyst, Ajay Kumar Sen, the then Deputy Systems Analyst and CK Mishra, the then programmer.

According to the agency, which took over the case in 2015, 245 have been chargesheeted for the first time, as well as 22 officials of these private medical colleges. This include 143 engine and bogey candidates (impersonator and candidate), 17 guardians, 22 middlemen, and 46 exam invigilators.

Explaining the modus operandi, the CBI officials said middlemen followed an engine-bogey system for pairing of candidates to take examination in alleged connivance with certain Vyapam officials.

In this, a bright candidate (who had already taken coaching to prepare for the test and is well versed with the examination pattern) would be alloted a roll number just ahead of a not-so-bright aspirant so that the latter could cheat from him, they said.

MODUS OPERANDI

• Middlemen followed an engine-bogey system for pairing of candidates in connivance with certain Vyapam officials.
   
• The middlemen were charging anything between Rs 15 and 20 lakh for this pairing
   
• The bright candidate would act as engine and the other as the bogey.