Vyapam scam: CBI conducts searches at 40 places in UP, MP

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The sources said the office of MP Professional Examination Board is also being searched by the CBI team.

New Delhi: Taking the Vyapam scam probe forward, CBI on Thursday carried out searches at nearly 40 places in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh including the premises of alleged mastermind Jagdish Sagar and Dhanraj Yadav, a former OSD to Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav.

The searches in connection with alleged irregularities in the conduct of examinations by MP Professional Examination Board, popularly known as Vyapam, spanned across Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Rewa, Jabalpur, Lucknow and Allahabad among other cities, CBI sources said.

They said the searches are not case specific and were aimed at unravelling the larger conspiracy of alleged corrupt practices in the conduct of the examinations. The residential premises of Dhanraj Yadav, former OSD to MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, in Lucknow, alleged mastermind Jagdish Sagar, former MP Minister Laxmikant Sharma and other suspects including Bharat Mishra, Vinod Bhandari, Sudhir Sharma, Om Prakash Sharma, Nitin Mahindra among others are being searched, they said.

The sources said the office of MP Professional Examination Board is also being searched by the CBI team. The agency has registered over 105 cases in connection with various aspects of Vyapam scam.

The Supreme Court has directed CBI to take over all Vyapam scam matters irrespective of their present status. "Whatever is the stage of the case, you (CBI) will have to take over all the matters," a bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu had said, while allaying the apprehension of CBI that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and Special Task Force (STF) of state police may not cooperate with it if it takes over the cases which were in trial stage.

"You take over and the SIT/STF will cooperate with you, we will ask them to co-operate," the bench, which also comprised justices C Nagappan and Amitava Roy, had said.

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for CBI, had said there were difficulties in taking over 72 cases, which were at different stages of trial, as they were being prosecuted by SIT/STF and their investigation officers (IOs) may not extend cooperation to the CBI.