Congress leader Digvijaya Singh speaks to reporters after the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to probe the Vyapam scam, in New Delhi yesterday.

Agencies/New Delhi

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered a federal investigation into a cash for jobs scandal after a spate of recent deaths fuelled claims of a mass cover-up by the Madhya Pradesh state government.
The court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the so-called Vyapam scam in which thousands of people are alleged to have bribed officials and politicians in Madhya Pradesh in return for jobs on the state payroll or places in medical colleges and training institutes.
“The Attorney General on instruction states that Madhya Pradesh has no objection whatsoever for transferring the investigation of criminal cases relating to Vyapam scam to the CBI and the cases related to deaths of those allegedly connected with the scam for free and fair probe,” the court ruled.
The court also issued notices to the federal and state governments seeking their response to calls by petitioners for the sacking of Madhaya Pradesh Governor Ramnaresh Yadav over his alleged involvement.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by activists and opposition leaders including Digvijaya Singh of the Congress asking for it to intervene and order a free and fair probe in the Vyapam scam which dates back to 2013.
The CBI will take over the investigations from the Madhaya Pradesh police who have arrested around 2,000 people since the scandal came to light.
Allegations of a cover-up have gained momentum since the weekend when a television reporter on assignment in Madhaya Pradesh suffered a fatal heart attack.
Akshay Singh, 38, fell ill while interviewing the parents of Namrita Damor, a 19-year-old medical student who was one of the beneficiaries of the scam and whose body was found on a railway track two years ago.
While police say the teenager committed suicide, her parents insist she was strangled.
Madhya Pradesh’s embattled Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who had earlier asked for a CBI probe to clear the air, visited Singh’s family yesterday to offer condolences.
Reports and the opposition Congress Party claim more than 40 people associated with the scam - including suspects and witnesses - have died in the last two years.
No one has so far been convicted in India’s notoriously slow legal system but around 1,930 people have been arrested including several top bureaucrats and hundreds of students.
While there is little hard evidence to link him to the deaths, Congress has accused Chauhan - a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - of involvement dating back to his time as state education minister.
The scandal was exposed after police arrested dozens of people who had been paid to impersonate applicants in tests. Paying for government jobs is widespread in India while it is also common for candidates to pay for fake qualifications or get someone to sit tests on their behalf.
Digvijaya Singh welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, but said the top court should monitor the probe to ensure it was independent of government influence.
The Supreme Court would decide in two weeks if there was a need to monitor the probe and who should do it, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said.
Hours after the court verdict, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi took potshots at Modi and accused him of shielding the Madhya Pradesh chief minister.
“The prime minister said (during the Lok Sabha election campaign) that he will neither indulge in corruption nor let anyone be corrupt. Why is he backing leaders in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh?” Gandhi asked.
Congress spokesman Tom Vaddakan said Chouhan should quit for the sake of a proper investigation. “The message from the Supreme Court is clear.”
Meanwhile, the death of one more person connected with the Vyapam scam came to light in Bhopal.