The men who opened the can of worms: Meet the 3 whistleblowers of Vyapam scam

9 years ago

Image courtesy: twitter.com

The Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) or MP Vyavasik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam in short) is a multi-crore rupees professional exam scam that has snowballed from a Munnabhai-style exam to a mysterious plot which would even turn Agatha Christie in her grave.

The scam that came to light in 2013 has recorded more than 40 deaths so far. The Supreme Court Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the case. But with so many biggies involved, the Vyapam scam is getting only murkier.

Here are the 3 whistleblowers who dared to take the bull by the horns at great personal risk:

1. Anand Rai

Who he is: The ophthalmologist, now, is a medical officer at MGM Medical College in Indore. An alumnus (2003-07) of the same college, he could smell the rat way back in 2005 when he found that wards of the biggies, like politicians and bureaucrats, scored high despite not attending classes and taking the viva voce. His suspicions found concrete ground when in 2007-08 he happened to come across what was actually going on. The following two different incidents that involved Deepak Yadav and Jagdish Sagar, who later became the key accused, tell you how the doctor fished it out:

In 2007, when Rai, a junior doctor then, eavesdropped on Deepak Yadav, another junior doctor then, secretly discussing a medical entrance exam in a hotel room. His sensed a megascam, of which he only became sure of a few months later when he chanced upon a suitcase full of forged documents that belonged to his batchmate Jagdish Sagar.

Yadav was pasting passport-sized photographs on forms in that hotel room and Sagar had heaps of admission forms and photographs stashed away in that suitcase.

Rai didn’t divulge his findings then. In 2009, when he had already joined his college as a faculty, he lodged a complaint with the MPPEB. It found out 280 proxy candidates, just at one centre!

Now, imagine the number if you are to take other medical colleges into account. Rai then filed a PIL with the Indore bench of the MP High Court. His family has been receiving threats, but he remains hell-bent on exposing the fraud so that the system changes.

2. Prashant Pandey

Who he is: This 36-year-old is a digital forensic engineer working with enforcement agencies in Madhya Pradesh.

He was already assisting law enforcement agencies when he was asked to help the Special Task Force (STF) in this case. Earlier this year, Pandey said:

“Only 5 per cent of the entire scam has been exposed. The scam is much bigger.”

While Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan publicly stated that Pandey is being helped by the Congress, he replied to this in an interview saying, “Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is used to lying. The CM is nothing but a certified liar. I am not associated with any political party.”

He also claims to have the evidence to prove that the CM is a liar.

He also revealed, “The SSP of Bhopal came home and threatened me, saying he will register 40 cases against me if I take the name of the Chief Minister in this case.”

In May, he met with a car accident when a truck hit his car under suspicious circumstances. Even so, nothing cripples his guts now.

3. Ashish Chaturvedi

Who he is: He is a student of social work in Gwalior.

In 2009, after he took his ailing mother to the hospital, she died shortly. But the lack of quality of doctors pricked his conscience and he has been on with his investigation since then.

During a casual chat with one Brijendra Rashuvanshi in 2010, he learned how the latter secured a seat by bribing. Raghuvanshi told him ‘how smart dummy candidates were provided to aspirants to write their exams while the candidates were asked to go for a movie so that they are not seen around’.

The Munnabhai-style exams lacked humour, and rather snowballed into something which would put Sherlock Holmes into deep thinking, give Quentin Tarantino a new plot and turn an Agatha Christie in her grave!

Chaturvedi has been assaulted on more than one occasion and has been threatened at least 10 times.

What the whistleblowers claim:

Between 2006 and 2013 candidates were fraudulently granted admission in MBBS, BDS, MD/MS courses. As many as 5000 doctors have secured medical seats through such means and are now practising in the state.

In a nutshell:

The scam worth over Rs 10,000 crore has till date seen more than 40 deaths and affected 2.5 million-odd young people if only the recruitment and entrance tests of 2012 and 2013 are taken into account. During 2008 to 2013, as many as 1,087 ineligible students got admission in medical colleges. While there have been around 2000 arrests so far, about 500 accused are still at large.

**The number of deaths, the nature of most of which is still shrouded in mystery, suggest the graveyard here is way spookier than the Game of Thrones! You never know who’s next!**