Vyapam case: Senior Cong leaders booked after court order

Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and an RTI activist were booked Thursday on charges of "fabricating evidence" in the Vyapam scam case, police said.

A case was filed against them after a court here gave such a direction to the police.

The Vyapam scam relates to irregularities in exams held by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, also called Vyavasayik Pareeksha Mandal or Vyapam, for admission in professional courses and state services.

The scam, which created ripples in the politics of Madhya Pradesh, had come to light in 2013.

The special court of Additional District Judge Suresh Singh issued the order Wednesday in response to a private complaint filed by advocate Santosh Sharma.

Sharma had alleged that the Congress leaders and Prashant Pandey, an RTI activist and whistle-blower earlier in the Vyapam issue, were providing false evidence and misguiding the court in this connection.

"An FIR has been registered against them in compliance with a local court's order," Inspector Anand Tiwari of Shyamla police station told PTI Thursday.

"They have been booked for forgery, forgery for cheating, forgery for harming reputation, using genuine as forged document, making or possessing counterfeit seal, knowing the document to be forged and intending to use it genuine, and criminal conspiracy under sections 465, 468, 469, 471, 472, 474 and 120 (b) of IPC," Tiwari said.

Judge Singh, in his order Wednesday, had told police to immediately register an FIR and submit its copy before the court.

The court also sought the investigation report in the case by November 13.

Sharma's complaint came after Digvijay Singh deposed on Saturday in connection with his private complaint seeking criminal prosecution of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister Uma Bharti and five others in the Vyapam scam.

Singh's lawyer Kapil Sibal had then said that the former had submitted the copy of a document connected with the Vyapam scam in which Chouhan's name figures 48 times.

Singh had also submitted documents running into 27,000 pages to accompany his charges, his senior counsel Vivek Tankha had said.

Meanwhile, state Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta Thursday said a new "disturbing" trend has emerged in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, where the complainants in cases were being booked.