Vyapam Scam

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Vyapam scam was a massive admission and recruitment scam involving politicians, senior officials and
businessmen in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court served
notices to Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) and Medical Council of India
(MCI) following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by parents of some students after reports that more
than 300 ineligible candidates managed to get into the merit list. Complaints of irregularities and crooked
deals in pre-medical test (PMT) were surfacing since 2009 but in the year 2013, a major scam was
unearthed involving several officials and politicians. The kingpin of the impersonation racket Dr. Jagdish
Sagar was arrested and subsequently several other influential people were arrested including exEducation Minister Laxmikant Sharma, MPPEBs exam controller Pankaj Trivedi, MPPEBs system analysts
Nitin Mahendra and Ajay Sen and state PMTs examination in-charge C. K. Mishra. The credit to expose
the scam goes to Indore-based medical practitioner Dr. Anand Rai.
As per some reports, it is one of the biggest scams to rock the state of Madhya Pradesh. Special Task
Force of Madhya Pradesh police under the supervision of High Court is conducting the
investigations. Enforcement Directorateunder Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in March
2014, booked MPPEBs exam controller Pankaj Trivedi along with 25 other accused including former
Madhya Pradesh higher education minister Laxmikant Sharma and his former officer on special duty O.P.
Shukla. 720 parents and students were booked and more than 129 politicians, officials and middlemen
were arrested.

The scam
Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), also known by its Hindi name Madhya Pradesh
Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam) is a self-financed and an autonomous body incorporated by the
State government. It is entrusted with the responsibility to conduct large-scale competitive tests for
admission to various professional courses and for recruitment to government jobs.
Modus operandi
The scam involved a collusion among exam candidates, government officials and middlemen: undeserving
candidates were offered high marks in the exams, in exchange for kickbacks. The following tricks were
used by those involved in the scam:
1. Impersonation The admit card of the candidate was used to execute the trick. All the information
of the candidate remained intact except the photograph. Candidates photograph was replaced by
that of the impersonator and after the exam, it was changed back to the original. All this was done
in collusion with the corrupt Board officials. The impersonator was always some brilliant student
and used to get hefty amount to secure the seat.
2. Engine and Bogie System A person was strategically seated between two other candidates by the
Board officials. The person let them copy from his sheet and the examiners were bribed to fix it.
3. OMR Sheets The select candidates were asked to leave their answer sheets blank. They were
randomly given high percentages after the exam. Concerned authorities of the Board then filed an
RTI demanding to view those answer sheets. They then filled in the answers in the OMR booklet
according to the marks they have already been given. This was done so that if someone were to
ever check those answer sheets, there would not be any loop holes that could give them away.
Vyapam admitted in the High Court that 1020 forms were missing and 346 imposters had appeared in the
exam. Vyapam officials admitted in the court that 1120 candidates appeared in the exam but their forms
were missing because Vyapam official and accused Nitin Mahendra had tampered with the Computers in
which the record was stored. The STF has presented charge-sheet against 28 accused, including Jagdish
Sagar, in Indore Court. The fact that the charge-sheet includes details of 3292 different offences and
more than 92,176 documents is indicative of the enormity of the scam.

Unearthing of the scam

Initial investigation
In 2009, complaints of irregularities in the pre-medical test (PMT) surfaced. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh
Chouhanset up a committee to look into these irregularities in 2009; the committee submitted its report
in 2011.
In July 2011, MPPEB monitored 145 suspects during the Pre-Medical Test (PMT). Most of the suspects did
not turn up, but 8 were caught for impersonating others. This included Kanpur-based Satyendra Varma,

who had accepted
4 lakh to appear in place of Ashish Yadav, in Indore. 15 exam toppers from the
previous year appeared for the exam. Suspecting that these people were called in to impersonate others,
MPPEB asked them to explain their reasons for re-taking the exams. Later, MPPEB also started using
biometric technology: thumb impressions and photographs of all the persons appearing for the exam were
taken to be matched during the post-results counselling.
In November 2011, a government probe committee headed by the State Joint Director of Medical
Education submitted a report stating that 100+ students had passed PMT using impersonation. In
December 2011, the MP Government announced that all the students who had gained admissions by
fraudulent means would be asked to quit their courses. This included those who had spent some years
taking the course.
2013 MP-PMT exam
In 2013, Dr. Anand Rai, an Indore based ophthalmologist and civil rights activist alleged a massive PreMedical Test (PMT) scam. He claimed that thousands of candidates secured admission to medical colleges
in the state through unfair means like impersonation and bribery. According to Dr. Rai, this scam dated
back to 2004 and the first case was reported in Khandwa, a city near Indore. On the basis of Rai's report,
the state government started investigating the scam, and transferred the case to a Special Task Force
(STF).
On July 6 and 7, Indore crime branch arrested 20 candidates from various city hotels of whom 17
belonged to Uttar Pradesh while three were from Madhya Pradesh. The candidates had come to
impersonate MPPMT candidates. A list containing names of 317 students was confiscated from Dr. Jagdish
Sagar after his arrest from a hotel in Mumbai by Indore crime branch on July 12, nine days ahead of PMT
counselling. MPPEBs exam controller Pankaj Trivedi, whose involvement was not known until then, shot a
letter to Indore IG Vipin Maheshwari seeking information about on-going investigations and list of
students recovered from Dr. Sagar. IG forwarded this letter to Indore SP (west) Anil Singh Kushwaha for
necessary action. Kushwaha in reply wrote a letter to Trivedi on July 19 stating a case under sections 419,
420, 467, 468 had been registered at Rajendra Nagar police station in connection with PMT 2013 exam
and it was difficult to clear the suspects without investigation. Trivedi's office received the letter, next day
on July 20. Investigators failed to find out how and why Trivedi's letter was entertained by the Indore
crime branch. Police also supplied the list of 317 suspect candidates to Trivedi, though it was not required.
On the same day, July 20, Trivedi sent a letter to Principal Secretary (PS), Medical education department,
Government of MP and deans of all medical colleges about 317 'suspicious' students making it to premedical test merit list and stating that during counselling scheduled for July 21 they could be admitted
after seeking an undertaking in an affidavit from them that their admissions would be considered
'cancelled' if they are found guilty of using unfair means in the police investigations.
"Trivedi's letter to the PS, Directorate of Medical education and state government for allowing these
students, and its compliance shows that more authorities were hand in glove with him in perpetuating the
scam," said Abhay Chopra, another petitioner, who demanded a CBI inquiry in the case. 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.
At a high level meeting held in Bhopal in July 2013, senior bureaucrats raised serious questions on the
police investigation in Vyapam scam and expressed surprise over the fact that Dr. Sagar could operate so
smoothly. Moreover, they were shocked to know that no tab was kept on him as he was arrested in 2003
in similar case. In the same meeting, government admitted major lapses in its working that helped the
pre-medical test scam thrive.
In
December
2013,
Special
Task
Force
investigating
the
PMT
scam
produced
a
supplementary chargesheet against 34 accused, running into 23,000 pages in the Indore district court.
Out of these 34 accused chargesheeted, 30 were students and their guardians. Four others included
Pankaj Trivedi, Dr. Sanjeev Shilpkar and Dr. Jagdish Sagars accomplice Gangaram Pipliya Earlier, STF
had chargesheeted 28 people, including Sagar, in the case on October 5.
On April 29, 2014, 27 students of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) medical college were expelled, on the
directives of the Medical Education Department, for having allegedly used fraudulent means to clear PMT2012. These 27 students were part of 286 candidates who cleared PMT-2012 through fraudulent means
and were identified by STF.
On June 19, 2014, Special Task Force of Madhya Pradesh police issued a statement that it has arrested
over 100 medical students for their involvement in the PMT scam and this number could go up as arrests
are being everyday. All these students allegedly cleared the medical entrance test by fraudulent means.

The arrests were carried out after Madhya Pradesh High Court directed the STF to submit a status report
in the matter on June 30. During a previous hearing, the High Court had taken a strong view and asked
police why high and mighty and absconding accused persons in connection with the scam were not yet
arrested by the STF. Following this, STF had also arrested former state technical education minister and
BJP leader Laxmikant Sharma on June 15 for his alleged involvement in the contractual teachers
recruitment scam. The contractual teachers examination too was conducted by the MPPEB (Vyapam).
Other recruitments rigged
In November 2013, the Special Task Force (STF) of Madhya Pradesh police made a shocking revelation
that Vyapam officials rigged five more recruitment tests - Pre-PG, Food Inspector Selection Test, Milk
Federation test, Subedar-Sub Inspector and Platoon Commander Selection Test and Police Constable
Recruitment Test - all held during 2012 for government jobs in the state. Different FIRs against 153
people including mining baron Sudhir Sharma were filed. Sharma, a close confidante of Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, was earlier interrogated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in
connection with mining scam.
SBI and IBPS recruitment
In September 2014, disclosure of rigging bank exams was made by Special Task Force on the basis of
interrogation of Dr. Jagdish Sagar and Mohit Chaudhary. The accused in collusion with a Bihar module,
arranged proxy candidates for candidates from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who appeared for SBI
Probationary Officer's examination from Madhya Pradesh. Numerous candidates who fraudulently cleared
the written examination of bank recruitment, ultimately failed to clear the interview.

Key arrests
By June 2015, more than 2,000 people had been arrested in connection with the scam.
Laxmikant Sharma, ex-Education Minister (M.P)
After being quizzed twice, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader was arrested after his alleged involvement
in contractual teachers recruitment scam. The exam was conducted by MPPEB and Sharma was its
Minister in-charge in his capacity as the then Technical Education Minister in the last BJP government in
the state. He later resigned from BJP after he was sent to four days police remand. Later, three FIRs were
filed against him in separate cases.
Dr. Vinod Bhandari
He is the main accused and was arrested on the charges of illegally helping students to get admission
through Vyapam officers. He fled to Mauritius when he was named in the scam and returned only after an
anticipatory bail was granted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
O. P. Shukla
He was posted as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) with then Technical Education Minister Laxmikant
Sharma. Soon after the investigations gained momentum, he went underground and surrendered two
months after the investigation team released a lookout notice for him. He allegedly took 8.5 million (85
lakhs) Rupees from the candidates for clearing the medical entrance test.
Pankaj Trivedi, Examination Controller Vyapam
He was arrested in September 2013 and is currently in a judicial custody. The state anti-corruption police
has recovered around 25 million rupees and numerous properties from his possession that are unknown
to his sources of income. Evidence of his partnership in Indore based medical college was also found.
Sudhir Sharma
He is the mining baron of Madhya Pradesh and an accused in the sub-inspector and constable recruitment
scam. His rise from the a primary school teacher to a billionaire is surrounded by mysteries. The
investigative team declared him as an absconder and declared a reward of Rs. 5000 for information about
his whereabouts. After a long hide and seek, he finally surrendered on July 25, 2014.
CK Mishra, Officer, Vyapam
CK Mishra has admitted that he was working for Dr. Sagar, Santosh Gupta and Sanjiv Shilpkar since
2009. In 2009, Dr. Sagar had given him application forms of 20 candidates, who were to be allotted roll
numbers in such a way that in the exam, their seats were one behind the other. Rs 50,000 per roll
number was paid to him. Thus, he received Rs 1 million.
In 2010, Dr. Sagar gave forms of 40 students. This time Rs 2 million was paid. In 2012, Dr. Sagar took
contract of 60 students, Shilpkar gave roll numbers of 20 boys. They paid Rs 3 million and Rs 1 million
respectively.

Nitin Mahendra (Principal System Analyst) and Ajay Sen (Senior System Analyst)
Vyapam programmer Yashwant Parnekar and clerk Yuvraj Hingve said in their statements that the
computers of Mahindra and Sen were not linked with the main server of Vyapam. These two officers could
access the data stored in 25 other computers at Vyapam but the data in their computers could not be
accessed by anyone. Taking advantage of this, they allotted roll numbers and examination centers as per
their wish.
Dr. Jagdish Sagar (Middleman)
Dr. Sagar used to handover handwritten notes to Vyapam officials, telling them which roll number to allot
to which student. For 2013, Dr. Sagar had given 317, Shilpakar 92 and Sanjay Gupta 48 names.
Mahendra had recorded the details of these candidates in his computer and destroyed the list. While
allotting roll numbers to these candidates, the slots immediately before or after them were left blank.
These roll numbers were then allotted to fake candidate. The roll numbers were set at their homes and
brought to office in Pen drive. After reaching the office, they uploaded the roll numbers to the computers.
After that Mahendra, used to telephone Dr. Sagar and tell him, The work has been done. You can check
on the website.
Animesh Akash Singh
He worked as a broker and got admitted four candidates in PMT.
Jitendra Malviya
A third year student of MBBS at MGM College of Indore who had got admitted one candidate in PMT 2013
through Dr. Sanjeev Shilpakar.
R. K. Shivhare, Suspended IPS Officer
He is an accused for his alleged involvement in the recruitment of sub-inspector and platoon commander
examination of 2012 conducted by Vyapam. He is also an accused in getting his daughter and son-in-law
admitted in the medical college by fraudulent means. When the probe agency registered a case against
him, he was suspended but evaded arrest. He was declared absconder and a reward or Rs. 3000 was put
against him. He later surrendered on April 21, 2014.
Ravikant Dwivedi, Suspended Joint Commissioner (Revenue)
He was arrested for getting his son admitted into one of the premiere medical colleges through unfair
means. Later, the state anti-corruption wing raided his house and were in a shock to found cash,
jewellery, property worth Rs. 600-700 million.
Vandana Dwivedi
On September 11, 2014, Special Task Force (STF) arrested the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader for her
role in the scam. She had given C. K. Mishra a list of five candidates for recruitment in contractual
teachers (grade II) appointment out of which two were selected.
Dr. G S Khanuja
On September 13, 2014, Special Task Force (STF) arrested the COO of Aurbindo hospital located in
Indore. His son secured 12th rank in the medical examination of 2012 through unfair means.
Mohit Chaudhary
He was arrested along with his gang for helping the students appearing in pre-medical test cheat with the
help of bluetooth. He was earlier arrested in 2012 for rigging other competitive exams but was released
on bail. He himself fraudulently cracked the post-graduate medical entrance examination conducted by
the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Narendra Dev Azad (Jatav)
On February 19, 2015, the special investigation team (SIT) arrested him on the charges of acting as a
middleman in the admission of Amar Singh Medha in 2009 in MGM College, Indore.

Whistleblowers
Indore based Dr. Anand Rai and Gwalior based social activist Ashish Chaturvedi are the two main whistle
blowers of this scam. While Dr. Anand Rai blew the lid over this scam, Ashish Chaturvedi blew the whistle
over involvement of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhans relatives in the scam. Despite a Whistle
Blowers Protection law in force, both of them face threat to their life and were denied police protection.
Ashish Chaturvedi has already suffered three attacks on his life including an abduction bid. Chaturvedi had
also petitioned CBI to probe admissions of 5,000 doctors in MBBS and PG courses of 2003-2013 in all
state colleges.

Prashant Pandey, a former IT consultant hired with the Special Task Force (STF), also claims to be a
whistleblower. He was arrested in 2014 for trying to use the team's information to blackmail the Vyapam
accused. He later claimed that the investigators were trying to shield the Chief Minister by tampering
evidence, and were harassing him for exposing the alleged tampering. An Excel sheet allegedly
implicating the Chief Minister, and claimed by Pandey to be an original tamper-free version, was declared
as a forgery by the High Court. The Madhya Pradesh police registered an FIR against him for leaking
information as part of this Excel sheet. He also claimed that only five percent of the scam had been
probed.
Circumstantial Statistics
This scam must be understood as part of the wider nexus of poor healthcare, corruption and central
licensing powers.
Madhya Pradesh has a doctor population ratio of 1:18650 ( roughly 1:300 in Europe). Newly qualified
post graduates earn approximately 20 times the Per capita income of Madhya Pradesh and hence
privileged parents are willing to plough money in education. Post graduation costs up to 400 lakh rupees
($650,000) in a state recognised Private College while it is comparatively much cheaper at 75 lakhs, to
'purchase' a seat in a government run school, through the scam network.
India is the only country where sale of medical seats by private medical colleges is part of official policy. It
means the ability to pay counts more than merit. The Medical Council of India, which regulated the sold
medical seats, itself accused of being systemically corrupt, has both slashed medical seats and made
suitability tests for students who study abroad extremely difficult, thus increasing the price of Private
medical education, while education remains comparatively free in the relatively few state run
colleges once the bribes have been paid.
Response to scam
Congress had demanded a CBI probe into the scam and expressed concern over impartial investigation
but the government declined to comply with this demand. The opposition also pressed for resignation of
the Chief Minister on moral grounds in view of alleged involvement of his ministers and relatives. On the
other hand, the Chief Minister had termed it as mudslinging by the opposition due to the defeat in Lok
Sabha election 2014.
The Chief Minister also vowed to take legal action against Congress leaders who leveled serious
allegations on his wife but later dropped the plan on the advice of bureaucrats close to him as it may have
led to another embarrassment for the government.
On November 5, 2014, Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected Digvijay Singh's petition for CBI probe and
ordered setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) to act as a watchdog for the court. The court also
directed the special task force (STF) to keep a close watch on news related to the scam in electronic and
print media and make relevant news a part of the investigation. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh has
appointed Justice Chandresh Bhushan, Retd. Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court as the Chairman of
the SIT along with two other members to probe the scam.
On February 18, 2015, the special investigation team sought permission from Madhya Pradesh High court
to probe state Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, which was subsequently granted. FIR was registered against
Governor's son Shailesh Yadav as well. Congress raised this issue in Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha during
its budget session. For the first time in the history of Indian politics, the assembly session ended only in 6
days without discussion on the budget.

Allegations against the Chief Minister

In 2014, Prashant Pandey (aka "Mr. X"), an IT consultant hired by the STF, was arrested for trying to use
the team's information to blackmail the Vyapam accused. Pandey then approached the Indian National
Congress leaderDigvijaya Singh, and claimed that he was a whistleblower who was being harassed for
exposing the role of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the scam. He alleged that the investigating
agencies had tampered with the contents of the Excel sheet recovered from hard disk of the scam accused
Nitin Mohindra's computer. Mohindra maintained a record of the candidates' names, their roll numbers
and the names of those who had recommended them. Hundreds of people were arrested based on the
information in this sheet. Pandey claimed that the investigators had modified the original version of the
sheet by removing the names of senior BJP leaders, including Chouhan, from the sheet.
Digvijaya Singh then submitted a 15-page affidavit before the SIT, alleging that the investigators were
shielding the Chief Minister. SIT took cognisance of Singh's complaint, and sent both versions of the Excel
sheet for forensic analysis. The forensic laborary reported that the Excel sheet available with STF was

genuine, while Pandey's version was forged. Accordingly, Singh's submission was rejected as a forgery by
Justice Khanwilkar in the MP High Court.
Pandey stood by his version, and stated that it had been authenticated by Truth Labs, a private forensic
lab. He approached the Delhi High Court for protection as a whistleblower, claiming persecution by the MP
Police. He claimed that he first sent the documents to the BJP minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and the Prime
Minister's Office; he approached Congress leaders only when he did not receive any response.
Chouhan hit back at his critics, saying that his government should be credited for the exposing the scam.
He stated that only 228 out of 350,000 appointments made during his tenure had been affected by the
recruitment scam, and unlike previous governments, he had conducted a thorough probe. Replying to
Congress' allegations that his wife had got jobs for 17 of her relatives from Gondia, he pointed out that
not a single candidate from Gondia had got the job in the question.

Deaths
A number of people connected to the scam and its investigation, died during the course of investigation.
The opposition parties and activists alleged that several of these deaths happened under suspicious
circumstances. In 2015, the Special Task Force (STF) submitted a list to High Court, naming 23 people
who are believed to have died "unnatural deaths". According to the STF, most of these deaths took place
before it took over the investigation in July 2013. Some media reports claimed that 40+ people associated
with the scam had died under mysterious cirumstances. The state's Home Minister Babulal Gaur dismissed
the allegations, and claimed that the deaths were natural.
According to the High-Court Special Investigation Team (SIT), 32 of the 'racketeers' in 25-30 age-group,
died in suspicious circumstances since the investigation started in 2012. The SIT officials raised concerns
that the arrested people were naming those who were already dead, in order to mislead the probe.
Date of death

Name

Role

Circumstances of death

21 November
2009

Vikas Singh Thakur

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Barwani due to illness

and adverse drug reaction

12 June 2010

Shyamvir Yadav

Middleman in PMT scam

from Gwalior

Died in Raisen in a road mishap

14 June 2010

Anshul Sachan

Middleman in PMT scam

from Hoshangabad

Died in Raisen in a road mishap

14 June 2010

Anuj Uikey

Middleman in PMT scam

from Mandla

Died in Raisen in a road mishap

2010

Gyan Singh

Middleman in PMT scam

from Bhind

Died in Gwalior; Alcohol-related

illness

2010

Deepak Verma

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Indore in a road mishap

Namrata Damor

A native of Meghnaghar in
Jhabua, 25-year old
Namrata was a first year
student of MGM Medical
College, Indore. Her death
was initially ruled as a
suicide in 2012. However,
in 2014, her name
appeared in the list of
students who had cleared
PMT-2010 using unfair
means. Her friend Vishal
Verma's name also
appeared in the list of
candidates who had been
impersonated by other
students in PMT-2009. Both
the students had
successfully applied for a
transfer from G R Medical
College in Gwalior to MGM

Namrata went missing on 7

January, soon after her results
were declared. Unable to reach
her on mobile phone, her
brother Omprakash arrived in
Indore to inquire her. He lodged
a missing person complaint on
12 January. On the same day
Namrata went missing, the
police had found a mutilated
dead body close to the railway
tracks near Maksi in Ujjain
district. A ticket reserved for 7
January in Indore-Bilaspur
Express was also found with the
body, but there was no other
identification. The police had
buried the body after
performing an autopsy, and put
up its photograph at Ujjain
railway station. On 29 January,

January 2012

Medical College in Indore.

According to her father
Mehtab Singh Damor,
Vishal had helped her get
this transfer. According to
Dr Anand Rai, a
whistleblower who exposed
the PMT irregularities, she
could have been sexually
exploited by the
masterminds of the scam.
Namrata's family claimed
that they had an argument
with the scam's kingpin
Jagdish Sagar and his gang
a few days before her
disappearance. They had
met Jagdish Sagar through
Gangaram Pipliya, who was
also chargesheeted in the
scam. According to them,
Vishal was a conduit of
Jagdish Sagar.

Omprakash identified the body

as that of her sister based on
the photograph. In autopsy,
semen was found on her body.
Four men were subjected to
DNA test to match semen
samples collected from her
clothes. One of these was Vishal
Verma, who had called her
several times on her mobile
minutes before she died.
Vishal's sample allegedly
matched with the sample
collected from Namrata's
clothes, but he was let off after
an investigation. The police
suspected that she had
committed suicide by jumping
off the train, because her father
had scolded her over her
friendship with a boy he
disapproved of. This was in
January 2012, when the MPPEB
scam had not been exposed
fully. However, in 2014, both
Namrata and Vishal's names
appeared in the list of student
suspects in the scam, leading to
suspicions of foul play.
Namrata's family claimed that
she had been murdered and her
dead body was dumped on the
railway tracks.

25 October
2012

Aditya Chaudhary
(alias Ravi Pippal)

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Sagar; Suicide

7 November
2012

Anant Ram Tagore

Got son admitted through

PMT scam

Died in Morena; Cancer

28 November
2012

Arvind Shakya

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Gwalior in a road

mishap

21 April 2013

Rinku alias Pramod

Sharma

Middleman in Police
Constable Scam

Died in Jhansi; Suicide by

hanging

12 May 2013

Kuldeep Marawi

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Mandla in a road mishap

Premlata Pandey

Accused in Contract
Teachers' scam; a student
and a resident of
Nehrunagar, Bhopal

Died in Rewa; Liver Cancer

10 August 2013 Ashutosh Tiwari

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Tikamgarh; Alcoholrelated Illness

15 September
2013

Tarun Machhar

Student Accused in PMT

scam

Died in Ratlam in a road mishap

9 October 2013

Anand Singh Yadav

Middleman in PMT scam,

from Fatehpur

Died in Raisen in a road mishap

26 December
2013

Devendra Nagar

Middleman in Police
Constable Recruitment
scam

Died in Bhind in a road mishap

21 January
2014

Bunty Sikarwar

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Gwalior; Suicide

January 2015

Lalit Golaria

Student accused in PMT

Body found under a bridge in

17 May 2013

fraud

Morena
He found hanging at his home
in Gwalior a few days after an
FIR was registered against him.
The Gwalior police claimed that
he committed suicide due to a
failed love affair. However, his
family members stated that he
was being "mentally tortured"
by scamsters to keep quiet. His
mother also committed suicide
by consuming acid a week later.

15 January
2015

Ramendra Singh
Bhadoria

A 30-year old medical

student of the Gajra Raja
Medical College, Bhadoria
was booked in the scam in
January 2015. He was
accused of using unfair
means to clear PMT 2009,
using an unknown
impersonator. A college
committee had recommend
ed his termination.

1 February
2014

Deepak Jain

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Gwalior in a road

mishap

14 February
2014

Dinesh Jatav

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Morena in a road mishap

20 April 2014

Vikas Pandey

Middleman in PMT scam

Died in Allahabad; Brain

haemorrhage

15 June 2014

Ravindra Pratap
Singh

Student accused in PMT

scam

Died in Singrauli; Suspected

suicide by poisoning

4 July 2014

Dr. D.K. Sakalley

He was the dean of Netaji

Subhash Chandra Bose
Medical College, Jabalpur.
Before his death, he had
gone on a 30-day medical
leave, to avoid pressure
from students who had
been sacked in connection
with the scam.

He is believed to have
immolated himself in a garden
behind his house. He had been
suffering from depression. A
suicide note was repoted to
have been recovered, but hte
police didn't confirm it to be a
case of suicide on the basis that
the dean had died under
suspicious conditions.

13 July 2014

Narendra Rajput

Middleman in PMT scam

from Mahoba

Died in Jhansi; Illness

Amit Sagar

A veterinary student
in Mhow, Amit Sagar was
named by the prime
accused Indrajeet Bhushan
in the case.

After Bhushan implicated Sagar

in the scam, the police tried to
contact him. However, they
found that he was already dead:
his body was found in a pond
in Sheopur district.

Shailesh Yadav

50-year old Shailesh was

the son of MP's Governor
and Congress leader Ram
Naresh Yadav. According to
one Veerpal Yadav, he
allegedly fixed the
recruitment of 10
candidates as Grade III
teachers. Veerpal told the
STF that he handed over a
list of 10 candidates and Rs
3 lakh to his friend Vijay
Pal, who forwarded them to
Shailesh Yadav at Raj
Bhavan.

50-year old Yadav was found

dead at Governor's official
residence in Lucknow. According
to his family, he was a diabetes
patient and was under stress
after being named in the scam;
the cause of his death appeared
to be brain haemorrhage. The
family didn't suspect any foul
play in the death, and called it a
natural death. The autopsy was
inconclusive and could not
ascertain the cause of his death.

Vijay Singh Patel

A pharmacist posted at
Shajapur District Jail, Vijay
Singh was arrested for his
alleged role in three cases
related to the scam. He
was cleared in one of these

Around mid-April, Vijay Singh

visited Kanker to meet his wife
Reena, who worked in the
school education department
there. According to his brother
Abhay, he had taken a train

February 2015

25 March 2015

28 April 2015

cases, and released on bail

in February 2015.
Subsequently, he was
summoned by STF in a
fourth case related to
police constable
recruitment examination.
Based on Vijay Singh's
statement, STF had
arrested the brother-in-law
of minister Laxmikant
Sharma'sOSD O P Shukla

from Raipur (nearest railway

station) to Bhopal on 16 April.
He had called his laywer at
Raipur station on that day. He
again called the lawyer on 17
April, informing that he would
meet him in two hours.
According to Abhay, this
indicates that Vijay was already
in Bhopal on 17 April. He went
missing a few hours before he
was scheduled to appear before
the STF at the Bhopal special
court. His mobile phone was
switched off, and his family
members had intimated his
disappearance to STF. His body
was found on 28 April in
Kanker, in a lodge run by a BJP
MLA. The lodge employees told
the police that Singh had
checked in on April 24, and the
again on April 27. He had asked
them to wake him up on the
morning of April 28, so that he
could catch a train to Bhopal.
When he did not open his door,
the lodge staff informed the
police. The police found his
dead body, and suspected
suicide as the door was bolted
from inside and the postmortem report mentioned that
poison was found in his body.
However, Singh's family
members suspected that he had
been killed as part of a larger
conspiracy. They pointed out
that no suicide note or poison
were found in the room, and
claimed that the lodge had an
open window from which a killer
could have escaped.
In Indore jail, he complained of
chest pain around 11:15 pm. He
was taken to Maharaja
Yashwant Rao Hospital, where
he was declared brought dead.
He is said to have died of a
heart attack, but his family
members alleged foul play.
According to his younger
brother, he spoke to his sister
around 4 pm and did not
complain of any discomfort.

28 June 2015

Narendra Singh
Tomar

29-year-old Tomar was

posted as an Assistant
Veterinary Officer at Raisen
before being arrested. He
was accused of arranging
imposters to replace the
genuine candidates.

28 June 2015

Rajendra Arya

40-year old Arya was out

on bail in the case

Died at a hospital in Gwalior due

to liver infection.

Akshay Singh

A journalist with Aaj Tak,

38-year old Akshay Singh
was covering the Vyapam
scam.

Akshay Singh suffered a heart

attack while interviewing
Mehtab Singh, father of
Namrata Damor, in her native
village near Meghnagar.

4 July 2015

According to Mehtab, Singh

came to his house at 1 pm, and
had a glass of water and a cup
of tea. After half an hour, he
began coughing and foaming in
the mouth. He was first taken to
the Meghnagar community
health centre, and then to a
private hospital, where he died.
The autopsy suggested that it
was a natural death, but the
Congress party suspected foul
play in his death and demanded
an investigation.

5 July 2015

Other
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Arun Kumar

Arun Kumar had replaced

Dr. D.K. Sakalley as the
dean of the NS Medical
College (Jabalpur), after
the latter's death. He was
assisting the STF by
providing documents on
fake medical entrance
examinees.

accused declared dead in SIT's report include the following:

Anand Singh (Barwani)
Anuj Pandey
Brijesh Rajput (Barwani)
Gyan Singh (Sagar)
Manish Kumar Samadhia (Jhansi)
Pashupati Nath / Lalit Kumar Pashupatinath Jaiswal
Vikram Singh

Two months after taking over as

the dean, he was found dead at
a Delhi hotel the morning after
he arrived there. He was
supposed to go to Agartala, as
part of an inspection team of
Delhi-based Medical Council of
India.