Vyapam scam: 10 deaths were suspicious, rest may be a coincidence, says Anand Rai

NEW DELHI: Amid an outcry over the deaths of over 40 people linked in some manner to the Vyapam recruitment scam, the main whistleblower in the case, Anand Rai, said only around 10 of those appeared to be suspicious.

“10 of the deaths that have occurred so far are in suspicious circumstances. The rest may be a matter of coincidence. I do not know about the rest who died but 10 of these, including journalist Akshay Singh, Namarata Damor and Narendra Tomar, have died in very suspicious circumstances,” Rai told ET in a phone interview. Among the 10 listed as “suspicious deaths” by Rai are D K Sakkale, former Dean of Jabalpur NSM college, four middlemen who died in a road accident and Dr Rajendra Arya who was allegedly involved in the scam and died while on bail.

Rai, however, added there was a need to reinvestigate all the deaths that have occurred so far. Over 40 people associated with the Vyapam scam in one way or the other have died. “All the deaths be reinvestigated by an impartial committee. Someone like Bhopal-based Forensic Science specialist Dr D K Satpathy should head this committee and once again examine all the deaths that have occurred,” he added.




The other major whistleblower and cyber forensic specialist Prashant Pandey told ET that it was clear that some of the deaths were mysterious, with the most recent case being that of journalist Akshay Singh.

“Akshay was to meet me soon after that interview. All I want to say now is that no one is safe,” Pandey told ET.

SIT head Justice Chandresh Bhushan said in Bhopal on Sunday that the issue of suspicious deaths came to his attention only when his team asked why all accused have not been questioned. “They (STF) said these accused had died and so th cannot be questioned. We have asked them to look properly wherever deaths have happened.”

The MP government has rubbished reports on Vyapam related deaths, calling them motivated. Meanwhile, four writ petitions on the scam will be mentioned in the SC on Tuesday in the court of CJI for an early listing of the matter. The whistleblowers have asked that the court “direct the CBI to register FIRs and investigate mysterious deaths of more than 40 persons in Vyapam cases”.