Madhya Pradesh STF nabs 3 suspects in Vyapam case, 8 years after Congress leader Digvijaya Singh complaint

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested three of the eight accused named in an FIR registered on the basis of a complaint by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh in 2014. Two others received bail from the high court.
The STF had registered the case on December 6 against Prashant Meshram, Ajay Tengar, Krishna Kumar Jaiswal, Anil Chouhan, Hari Kishan Jatav, Shiv shankar Prasad, Amit Badole and Sulwant Singh Morya for allegedly clearing PMT 2008-2009 through impersonators.
Prashant, Ajay and Anil were arrested on Sunday and are now in judicial custody. Amit and Sulwant were granted bail on Monday. Efforts are on to arrest some others on the list of suspects, say sources.
This FIR by STF into the infamous Vyapam scam was registered in the fag-end of 2022, almost eight years after Digvijaya, a former chief minister, filed the complaint.
The FIR triggered a stir, with some in the ruling party seeing it as a "political" move and wondering who sanctioned it after so many years.
Sources say the matter was taken up by the BJP's top brass in New Delhi, pointing out that "quoting only a select para from the complaint - instead of attaching/mentioning the whole -- in the FIR is not legitimate".
Vyapam: Routine action, say officials
Digvijaya's complaint to the STF in 2014 (a year before the Supreme Court transferred the case from STF to CBI) alleges that a section of BJP leaders was involved in the scam.
STF officials have dismissed the political controversy and say it's routine action in the Vyapam probe since they are investigating hundreds of complaints related that were not taken up by the CBI. The FIR was registered after a probe by 'questioned documents (QD) section' of the police headquarters found a mismatch between the accused's signatures and other credentials, say STF officers.
Digvijaya had submitted a list of students in three categories, alleging that some ministers of the MP government and a few senior BJP leaders were involved in the scam for financial benefit.
The CBI has wrapped up its probe, chargesheeting more than 3,500 suspects in 155 cases between 2015 and 2020. Today, CBI has no pending Vyapam case and hundreds of investigators, who were sent to Bhopal for this massive probe, have been sent back to their parent units. tnn