Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh), July 6
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said there was no need for a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam as the SIT investigating the scandal reported to the Madhya Pradesh High Court and not the state government.

"SIT (Special Investigation Team) is probing it... the SIT is not working under the government, but under the supervision of the high court. I think things which have influenced Vyapam... the high court will take cognizance of them," Rajnath Singh told the media while on a visit to Madhya Pradesh.

The home minister appealed to political parties not to influence the probe as it was under the high court.

"An SIT probe is on. It is a high court decision whether the CBI should probe. How can we influence the high court and the Supreme Court?" he said, adding that there was an attempt to make an issue "out of a non-issue".

"The Madhya Pradesh chief minister has said he wanted the issue probed independently and the probe is on.

"When the high court feels that the SIT is not able to probe properly... and if given a direction, then the government is ready for a CBI probe," he added.

Not right to link every death with Vyapam, says Chouhan

It is not at all right to link every death with Vyapam, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday, the day a female trainee police sub-inspector committed suicide.

Chouhan said every death is sad, but it is not fair to link every death with Vyapam.

The chief minister spoke after Anamika Kushwaha, a trainee at the Jawaharlal Nehru Training Centre at Sagar, jumped to her death in a nearby pond early Monday.

Chouhan said Anamika's death was not linked to the raging Vyapam scam.

The admission and recruitment racket in the Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam) or the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board apparently involves politicians, officials and businessmen.

More than 40 people associated with the scam have died since 2013 - either in mysterious circumstances or have committed suicides.

Just a day before Anamika killed herself, Arun Sharma, the dean of a medical college in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh who was connected with the scam probe, was found dead in a hotel room near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Sharma, 64, was assisting the team probing the recruitment scam by providing documents on fake medical entrance examinees in the state-run college, police said.

Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra said that as far as Arun Sharma's death is concerned, "it is not linked to Vyapam".

The most high-profile death in the case has been of Shailesh Yadav, son of Governor Ram Naresh Yadav. Shailesh, 50, was found dead at his father's residence in Lucknow on March 25.

There are conflicting number of deaths related to Vyapam scam. Congress puts these deaths at 48, while the Special Investigation Team's figure is 33.

Congress for SC-monitored CBI probe into Vyapam scam

Accusing Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan of "misleading" the investigation into the Vyapam scam, the Congress on Monday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe.

"Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had on Sunday demanded a neutral investigation in the Vyapam deaths, including that of a journalist. Is Chauhan refusing to listen to his own government?" Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked here.

"Does the reluctance of the chief minister reflect his jitteriness and an attempt to stifle the truth and divert the investigation?" he added.

Demanding a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe into the scam, he said the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court had said that members of the Special Investigation Team probing the scam faced threats to their own lives.

The scam is related to irregularities in recruitment conducted by Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam). Many people associated with the scam have lost their lives, including a TV journalist who was covering it.

Surjewala said: "Chauhan is misleading the nation and telling a lie. He is again hoodwinking the nation.

"Why was the chief minister not able to stop this sinister scam between 2009 and 2013?"