New Delhi: The CBI on Tuesday filed its chargesheet in the Vyapam scam case and virtually rejected allegations that computer hard discs seized from an accused purportedly carrying reference of the letters “CM” have been tampered.
The findings of the CBI will come as a major relief for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who will be facing assembly elections next year.
The agency in its charge sheet filed before a special Central Bureau of Investigation court said that the forensic analysis of the hard disc drives seized from Nitin Mohindra, an official at Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, by the Madhya Pradesh Police has shown that no files having letters “CM” were stored in them.
Vyapam scam: Digvijay Singh’s claims baseless, says CBI
The chargesheet filed by the CBI in connection with Pre-Medical test for the year 2013 has listed 490 accused which includes three Vyapam officials-Mohindra, Ajay Kumar Sen and C.K. Mishra. Talking about the modus operandi of the Vyapam scam, the CBI has alleged in the chargesheet that racketeers arranged solvers for MBBS aspirants.
The CBI in its chargesheet filed before the court said that “the allegations levelled by Vyapam scam whistle-blower Prashant Pandey and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh were baseless”, sources said.
Mr Singh had alleged that Chouhan was involved in the scam, along with his family members, and alleged that crucial pieces of evidences, including hard disks and pen drives, were tampered with to protect them. Both had alleged that the hard disks and pen drives seized by Indore Police on July 18, 2013 from the computer of an accused had been tampered.
Mr Pandey had given the submission in the Delhi High Court while Digvijay Singh had approached the Supreme Court which had handed over the matter to the CBI.
The two, in separate pleas, had alleged the word “CM” was mentioned 48 times in an excel file stored on the hard disks which was either replaced or deleted”. “The seized documents, hard disks and the pen drives given by Prashant Pandey were sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad for scrutiny and the report suggested no tampering. A detailed forensic analysis revealed that there was no file carrying the word CM ever stored on it,”, said the agency in its probe report.
The experts found that computer was not accessed after July 15, 2013 thus ruling out any manipulation of records contained in it after July 18, 2013 when it was seized by Indore Police, the agency said. The files given by Pandey in its pen drive to the High Court and the CBI were “created” after July 18, 2013 indicating falsification of evidence, the CBI alleged.
There were allegations that the then systems analyst in Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, popularly known as Vyapam, Nitin Mohindra, who is an accused in the admissions scam, had recorded details of payoffs to influential persons on his computer in the excel sheets. “Two pen drives, one kept in custody of the Delhi High Court in writ petition filed by the private person (Pandey) and the other submitted by him to the CBI in a sealed cover were also sent Hyderabad for analysis. All the five excel files in the pen drive provided by the private person to the Delhi HC as well as to the CBI, containing reference ‘CM’ in it, were created or last modified on or after July 18, 2013 as per the report of CFSL,” said the report.
