BHOPAL: At least 40 people linked to Madhya Pradesh’s examination board scam have died under mysterious circumstances in the course of the three-year police investigation, sources close to the probe said on Wednesday. The deaths have snapped crucial linkages to kingpins, making it India’s most notorious scam where so many “wanted” people have been killed and their secrets entombed forever.

TOI had reported on May 8 that eight accused, including a pharmacist Vijay Singh, had died mysteriously. But a fresh report submitted on Wednesday before the high court-appointed special investigation team ( SIT ) probing the MPPEB (Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board) scam revealed that another 32 people, all aged between 25 and 30, have died under suspicious circumstances since the probe began in 2012.

READ ALSO: 10 things to know about MPPEB scam

Top brass behind bars, MPPEB can't deliver on exam results

SIT chairman, Justice (retired) Chandresh Bhushan , told TOI he would seek a detailed investigation into the deaths. He refused to disclose anything further, calling it “highly sensitive”.

The report claims that 32 people — referred to as “racketeers” in the document — have died since the probe began in 2012. Investigating officers have been asked to collect their death certificates and establish the cause of deaths, said sources. Most of those who died are from the dusty Chambal bowl straddling Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s son Shailesh (death due to poisoning), pharmacist Vijay Singh (found dead in Chhattisgarh lodge) and Indore Medical College student Namrata Damor (found dead on railway tracks) were accused in the MPPEB scam and none of them has been named in the fresh list.

Jabalpur Medical College dean Dr DK Sakalley, who was also allegedly linked to the scam probe, died of burns under suspicious circumstances. Congress MLA Sachin Yadav had demanded a CBI probe in the assembly and MP home minister Babulal Gaur had assured the House about a central probe.

Both MP and Chhattisgarh police are still clueless about the death of pharmacist Vijay Singh, a key accused linked to several high-profile suspects in MPPEB scam. Vijay was an accused in three cases related to the scam and was likely to be booked in three more cases. He went missing a day before a hearing at a Bhopal court on April 17, and 10 days later, his body was found inside a BJP MLA’s lodge in Kanker town. Officially, more than 1,700 people have been arrested in the scam so far and 500 are still on the run.