india

Updated: Jan 19, 2019 22:16 IST

Madhya Pradesh’s former higher education minister Laxmikant Sharma, his OSD O P Shukla and six others were let off by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the transport constables’ recruitment test 2012 conducted by Vyapam, due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Senior advocate for CBI, Satish Dinkar, said they have submitted a 76 page challan against 28 persons, of which two persons have died. These include Vyapam officials, middlemen and candidates. Dinkar said in the case of Sharma, Shukla and six others no charges have been proved so there is no recommendation of prosecution against them.

The constable recruitment exam was one of the most significant cases related to the multilayered Vyapam scam because most of the accused are from Maharashtra’s Gondia, the native place of former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s wife, Sadhana Singh.

Congress leader K K Mishra had alleged in 2014 that 18 candidates from Gondia had been recruited by the state transport department following directions from the CM’s house. The Congress had also alleged that Sadhana Singh was also involved, though she was never made an accused in the case.

Before the CBI took over investigation of all Vyapam cases, it was being investigated by the SFT and they had filed FIR against all the eight persons.

In the chargesheet the CBI said that from the computer of former principal system analyst Nitin Mohendra, they had found an excel sheet in which they found evidence of illegal recommendation against 18 candidates. The OMR sheets of these candidates were tampered with and they had selected. The CBI found that none of the recommendations had been made by the eight who have been let off.

Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza said they were not surprised with the CBI finding. “We all know how the CBI is being misused by the central government,” she said.