Scribe's death: Cong demands SC-monitored CBI probe, Centre

Congress today demanded a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe into the mysterious death of TV journalist Akshay Singh while covering the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh even as the Centre wanted a "very fair inquiry" to put to rest all doubts.
As the Congress alleged that 45 people have died under mysterious circumstances in the massive admission and recruitment scam in MP, Delhi's ruling Aam Admi Party(AAP) favoured a Supreme Court-monitored SIT probe into it including the death of 38-year-old Singh.
Calling the Vyapam episode, the "most sinister scam of India", Congress in-charge of Communications Randeep Surjewala demanded an enquiry by the CBI under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, claiming that the mechanism of SIT-STF combine has proved ineffective in probing the matter.

Referring to the death of Dr Arun Sharma, Dean of NS Medical College of Jabalpur who was found dead today in a hotel in Delhi, Surjewala told reporters that "he had become the 45th victim of Vyapam Scam today."
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that since various issues are being raised with respect to the circumstances of the death of the journalist, it would be absolutely important that a "very fair inquiry" is held so that all doubts can be put to rest.
In a tweet, the minister also condoled the "sad and untimely" demise of the journalist and said that his "thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family".

Terming the incident as "extremely shocking" and questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on "scams", Congress spokesperson RPN Singh said, "It is very simple for the state government or Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to write a letter for a CBI inquiry and the central government will act on it."

He said, "If we see the scams -- be it the Vyapam scam, the rice scam in Chhattisgarh or what is happening in Rajasthan, with ministers in the Modi government, the Prime Minister seems to be not breaking his silence.
"It seems that he has given tacit support to all these scams. It is extremely evident."

AAP listed three demands in connection with the Vyapam scam, calling it a "black hole" which has claimed several lives so far".
"We have three main demands including termination of MP Governor by the Centre, an independent inquiry by SIT into each death including mysterious death of TV journalist Akshay connected to Vyapam scam, and we also urge Supreme Court for a time-bound SIT probe of the scam under its monitoring," Delhi AAP Convener Dilip Pandey told reporters.