Vyapam scam: CBI clean chit likely for Uma Bharti

BHOPAL: Three years after taking over investigation of the Vyapam scam, CBI has found no credible evidence to substantiate allegations against former CM Uma Bharti, say sources.
Initially, investigators had divided opinions on the matter but superiors intervened and cleared their ‘confusion’, said an official privy to the information.
It was Uma Bharati who had reiterated in 2014 that the Vyapam scam was bigger than fodder scam and pressed for a CBI probe. The same year, the state Congress charged her with involvement in the scam. She reacted strongly, accusing the opposition of misleading people since its leaders are involved in scam.
During the time Madhya Pradesh special task force (STF) was handling the probe, there were allegations that Uma Bharti was mentioned in one of the seized Excel sheets, alongside the names of 17 candidates recommended in the teachers’ recruitment examination (Grade 2). However, the credibility of the Excel sheet was disputed by whistleblowers.

STF made over 1,000 arrests, largely on the basis of names found on Excel sheets retrieved from hard the disk of a key player in the scam. A copy of the Excel sheet was submitted in a district court on September 9, 2014, along with the chargesheet into the contractual teachers’ appointment scam.
Key suspect Nitin Mohindra would maintain a record of names of candidates and names of those (in code) who recommended them. Besides, there are details of payment in the Excel sheet. For example, former minister Laxmikant Sharma, who is in jail for his alleged role in the scam, was allegedly noted as ‘minister’ alongside the names of two dozen candidates in the Excel sheet.
STF names 43 people
STF named 43 people, including Sharma and a former officer on special duty to MP Governor, Dhanraj Yadav Bharti was neither named nor questioned by STF, and the agency issued an official statement that she has nothing to do with the scam. CBI is likely to submit its chargesheet in the case in a few days.