Congress seeks FIR against Madhya Pradesh CM

The Congress on Monday demanded police action against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for allegedly tampering with evidence to absolve himself in the Vyapam scam.

"Our only request is that an FIR be lodged against the chief minister and police officers who tampered with the evidence" in the scam in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or Vyapam, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said.

The board holds exams for recruitment in services for medical officers, constables, teachers, forest guards, and auditors for government departments.

The Special Task Force (STF) probing the matter has so far arrested 1,700 people, including several students and parents who allegedly bribed government officials for ensuring their names in the list of those who cleared the test without even appearing for the exam. About 700 more arrests are expected soon.

Referring to a Congress delegation's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week to seek his intervention in the matter, Digvijaya Singh once again demanded that Modi prove his "claimed" intolerance for corruption and initiate appropriate action against the BJP chief minister in the state.

"Before the Lok Sabha polls, Modi claimed that neither will he engage in corruption nor allow anybody to do it. If the prime minister wants to honestly check corruption in the country, he should take action against Chouhan," Digvijaya Singh told the media here.

Failing to initiate action would mean implicit encouragement to corruption, he added.

The Congress claimed that the STF investigation is "faulty", alleging that "the evidence has been tampered with in connivance with the state government".

The STF is providing a "cover up" to Chouhan by "falsely" implicating Governor Ramnaresh Yadav in this matter, Singh said.

Earlier in February, the STF named Yadav in an FIR for taking money from candidates that applied for the position of Forest Guards in 2013.

He was later booked for corruption, misuse of his official position and cheating along with 70 others who were also named in the police complaint.

Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia also sought a CBI probe in the interest of "transparency and accountability", saying "the future of several lakh students depended on a fair investigation" free of the state government's influence.