Vyapam scam: CPI slams Chouhan, says BJP Govt. in MP should be ashamed

Asserting that there has been no straightforward response from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan yet on the Vyapam scam, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which governs the state must be ashamed of the latest developments on this case.

"Special Investigative Team (SIT) under the state government is probing the scam. What it can do nobody knows? There has been no honest straightforward response from Chouhan yet. It is a BJP-ruled state government and the BJP should be ashamed of what is happening in Madhya Pradesh," Raja told ANI here.

"And even Prime Minister Modi is keeping quiet on it whether it is Lalit Modi case or Vyapam scam. Who needs their sympathy? The people need justice," he added while commenting on Chouhan's statement expressing condolences to the family members of Akshay Singh, the journalist who was in Madhya Pradesh for the last few days to investigate the unnatural deaths in the Vyapam scam.

Raja further said that the scam is a fit case, which needs to be probed by higher authorities, referred to the CBI and monitored by the Supreme Court of India.

"This is a very serious issue, the first case in the country where not only accused die in mysterious circumstances, but also the witnesses and also journalists who try to cover the case. In fact, the National Council of our Party which met in Chandigarh from June 30 to July 2 discussed the very similar issue. There are so many deaths in the Vyapam case. Several accused died in mysterious circumstances. So did several witnesses. Now the journalist who tried to investigate the case, he too died in mysterious circumstances," said Raja.

"We express strong concern and condemnation in the way the Madhya Pradesh Government is dealing with the entire case. This is a fit case, which needs to be probed my higher authorities, referred to the CBI and monitored by the Supreme Court," he added.

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister earlier said that he is writing a letter to the SIT to probe the journalist's death.

Talking to the media in Bhopal, Chouhan said the state government has full sympathy with the family of deceased scribe.

Akshay Singh, a journalist working for a leading Delhi-based news channel, on Saturday suddenly took ill and died after having interviewed parents of a girl who had been found dead near railway tracks, after her name figured in the Vyapam scam.

The incident took place in Meghnagar near Jhabua town.

The journalist was rushed to the civil hospital and later to a private hospital, but doctors failed to revive him. From there he was taken to another hospital in nearby Dahod in Gujarat, where he was declared brought dead.