CBI arrests Vyapam scam accused

After a 12-year-long chase, the CBI arrested an impersonator who appeared in the exam on behalf of a candidate in Police Constable Recruitment Test (PCRT)-2013 in Madhya Pradesh in what is popularly known as the Vyapam scam case. Shelendra Kumar was arrested in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, in connection with a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on September 15, 2013, an official of the investigative agency said.

The CBI, in a statement, said that the accused had appeared in the exam on behalf of the candidate and was earlier arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police. However, Kumar failed to appear when the CBI filed the charge sheet in June 2017 and has been absconding since then. He was formally declared an absconder in July 2018, the CBI said. Recently, the CBI used technical intelligence to develop crucial leads, which helped confirm his identity and pinpoint his location in Haridwar.

Whistleblower, Anand Rai, who exposed the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, entered politics last year by joining a national party. Rai had filed a PIL in the Madhya Pradesh High Court demanding a thorough investigation into the irregularities in 2013. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had ordered a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The case was later handed over to the CBI in 2015. The investigations resulted in the arrest of several high-profile politicians, including the state’s former Education Minister.

In another case, the probe agency has arrested Mahesh Kumbhani,  Managing Director of an Indore-based private company and a private person Gaurav Dhakad in a Rs183 Crore Fake Bank Guarantee Scam. CBI registered three separate cases following directions from the Madhya Pradesh HC. These cases pertain to a major financial fraud involving the submission of forged bank guarantees by an Indore-based company to the Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Limited (MPJNL). It was alleged that in 2023, the company secured three irrigation projects in the districts of Chhatarpur, Sagar, and Dindori, Madhya Pradesh, with a total value of Rs974 crore. To support these contracts, the company submitted eight fake bank guarantees worth Rs183.21 crore.

On the strength of these forged guarantees, it also received approximately Rs85 crore as mobilization advances from MPJNL. During the initial verification, MPJNL received fraudulent email responses impersonating the official domain of Punjab National Bank (PNB), falsely confirming the authenticity of the bank guarantees. Relying on these false confirmations, MPJNL awarded three contracts worth Rs974 crore to an Indore-based private company.

In Jharkhand, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested 7 accused, including Security Officer/Manager (Mining), Clerk Grade-III, and Security Guard all of Giddi C Colliery Project, Argada Area, Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), and four private persons in bribery case. CBI registered the case against them on allegations that the accused public servants of CCL allowed the coal lifter to lift coal illegally during the road sale of coal by extracting of bribe. 

(Crime Correpondent)