Court rejects bail plea of key-accused Pankaj Trivedi

INDORE: A local court on Wednesday rejected a bail petition of Vyapam scam prime accused Pankaj Trivedi. The special Lokayukta court rejected the bail plea after special public prosecutor Saket Vyas told the court that Trivedi was accused of being mastermind of the scam and there were several cases pending against him.
Vyas said Trivedi was booked under cases related to disproportionate cases by enforcement directorate (ED) and thus granting him bail might hamper the course of investigation.
After hearing arguments, special judge B K Paloda refused to grant Trivedi the bail in Lokayukta related cases.
Four months after his arrest by STF for his alleged role in Vyapam scam, Lokayukta Police had on January 29, 2014 launched simultaneous raids on Trivedi’s houses and bank lockers in Indore and Bhopal. Raids unearthed property documents worth Rs 2.5 crore. His known source of income in his 28-year stint with the state government is pegged at Rs 80 lakh.
Even after the racket was busted, Trivedi managed to get an official order released from state government to allow 317 suspected candidates- who cleared 2013 pre-medical test (PMT) through unfair means with the help of Dr Jagdish Sagar’s racket - appear for counselling and be given provisional admission on submission of an affidavit.
A list containing names of 317 students was confiscated from Dr Sagar (middleman) after his arrest from a hotel in Mumbai by Indore crime branch on July 12, 2013 nine days ahead of PMT counselling.
Neither crime branch nor special task force (STF) of MP Police – to which investigations were transferred -bothered to investigate how medical education department and deans of all government colleges managed to communicate the message about need for an affidavit to all 317 students, just a day ahead of counselling.
Investigators also failed to find out how and why Trivedi’s letter was entertained by the Indore crime branch, and all students named in Dr Sagar’s list were issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC).
Trivedi made several other communications about exams before being arrested by STF on September 28 - for his alleged role in the pre-medical test (PMT) scam on the basis of Dr Jagdish Sagar’s interrogation. His was 29th arrest in the scam.
It is alleged that Trivedi hampered examination process in connivance with Vyapam staff Nitin Mohindra, who was arrested after investigations by Indore crime branch.