Bhopal: Two-and-a-half years after former chief minister Digvijaya Singh accused chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s involvement in the Vyapam scam, the latter has come clean in the case. With CBI rejecting the charge that HDD seized by MP Police was tampered with at the behest of Chouhan, problems may mount for Diggi raja.
The CBI report is a major setback for Digvijaya Singh, who is presently on a parikrama of the Narmada. Singh had made the allegations on a signed affidavit that makes him liable to prosecution for perjury. In February 2015, Singh had alleged at a press conference in the presence of Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vivek Tankha, Suresh Pachauri and Arun Yadav that Chouhan got his name in the excel sheet deleted and replaced by names of former Governor Ramnaresh Yadav, Uma Bharati and Laxminant Sharma. He had submitted the affidavit along with the complaint to the SIT constituted by the high court. He had submitted a report of ‘Truth Lab’ confirming his allegations and had even claimed that he was ready to go to jail if his charges were proved wrong.
The CBI report has come as a dampener for the Congress leaders who were trying to put Chouhan in the dock on the Vyapam issue for the past several years. The Congress, however, has now started levelling charges on the CBI. Chief spokesperson of Congress, KK Mishra said the claim of clean chit to Chouhan on the basis of the CBI was contempt of the Supreme Court. He said that SC would decide whether the charges are correct or not. Senior advocates Vivek Tankha and Kapil Sibal would move the Supreme Court on the issue, he added.
State BJP vice-president Vijesh Lunawat described the CBI report as “victory of truth”. He said that the Congress now stands exposed.
The clean chit to Chouhan was celebrated at the residence of minister Vivek Sarang by several MLAs and Mayor Alok Sharma. Sarang said that all those who had alleged Chouhan’s involvement in the Vyapam scam, including Rahul Gandhi, should now apologise to Chouhan.
Dr Narottam Mishta, spokesperson for the state government, said that the CBI report has proved that truth wins ultimately. He said now that the charges have been proved baseless, those who had levelled the allegations should better furnish an unconditional apology.
