Death of yet another witness in Vyapam scam, STF tells court

BHOPAL: The death of yet another witness in the Vyapam scam has come to light with the Special Task Force (STF), which is probing the case, telling a special court he died of liver ailment in February.

The STF officials yesterday informed the court that the witness, identified as Sanjay Singh Yadav, aged around 35, died of serious illness on February 8 at a private hospital in Bhopal.

The STF also submitted his death certificate before the court.

According to Yadav's family members, he was suffering from Hepatitis-B and some liver problem, a senior STF official said.

Yadav was a witness in the constable recruitment scam in which three accused, identified as Azharuddin, Naeem and Kaseem, all residents of Uttar Pradesh, were arrested.

The arrests were made in Bhopal in front of Yadav as witness, the official said.

A number of accused and witnesses in the infamous Vyapam scam, related to admission in medical colleges and recruitment for various government jobs, have died mysteriously.

Investigative TV journalist Akshay Singh died mysteriously at Meghnagar in Jhabua district last week after he had interviewed the parents of a girl who was found dead after her name figured in the massive scandal.

A US-based media watchdog recently demanded a credible and thorough investigation into the death of Singh.

Soon after the incident, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was earlier reluctant to hand over the probe into the scam to CBI, decided to write to the MP High Court for an investigation by the central agency into the scandal which is said to have claimed over 40 lives, including that of witnesses.

All eyes are on the Supreme Court which is scheduled to take up a batch of petitions for ordering a CBI probe into the multi-crore scandal after the high court yesterday deferred hearing on a state government's plea for a probe by the central agency.