The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has set itself up for huge embarrassment after the prime accused in the Vyapam scam, Jagdish Sagar, was seen at the same school event attended by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath. The same event was also attended by senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and Higher Education Minister Jitu Patwari. Sagar was seen during the prize distribution programme at Daily College School in Indore.
Sagar is accused of having conspired to get admissions for more than 150 students in medical colleges through Vyapam. Two cases were filed against Sagar pertaining to the Pre-Medical Test in 2012 and 2013. He was arrested for being the mastermind of the Vyapam scam in 2013 and after spending years in jail, had secured bail in 2015 after CBI took over the case.
In 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a charge sheet in the Vyapam scam against ‘mastermind’ Dr Jagdish Sagar, two officials of the exam board, and others under the anti-money laundering law. Apart from Sagar who acted as the middleman, Dr Vinod Bhandari who is the ex-chairman of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS), and Vyapam officials Dr Pankaj Trivedi and Nitin Mohindra were named. The chargesheet was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Prasanta Patnaik