Newsroom24x7 Desk

New Delhi/Bhopal: The massive Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh is leaving behind a trail of death and two linked casualties since yesterday have rattled the nation.

The death of Akshay Singh, Special Corespondent of national TV channel Aaj Tak, in Jhabua district in western Madhya Pradesh while he was covering the Vyapam scam, has raised several questions.

Akshay Singh was cremated in Delhi today. His cremation was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind kejriwal and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

The India Today Group is deeply saddened by the untimely demise of Akshay Singh. Akshay had been working with Aaj Tak as a Special Correspondent since December 2013. Akshay died in the Jhabua District of Madhya Pradesh this afternoon (July4).

The circumstances of the untimely death of TV Today journalist Akshay Singh merits a full, fair and independent inquiry. We urge the Madhya Pradesh government to immediately have the viscera sample sent to a recognised forensic laboratory outside the state, preferably Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, for a thorough and transparent examination.

This would assuage the family, friends and well wishers of Akshay who seek some closure.

Nothing we do will ever bring back Akshay, a brave and fearless journalist. The India Today group stands by the family in their hour of crisis.

Today Dr Arun Sharma, dean of Jabalpur medical college in Madhya Pradesh was found dead this morning at a resort at Dwarka in New Delhi. He had checked in last night and was to leave for Agartala this morning as part of aMedical Council of India inspection team.

As head of Jabalpur Mefivcal College, he was asiting in the Vyapam scam and was responsible for tallying admission related papers and reporting discrepencies to the SIT set up by the Jabalpur High Court and the Special Task Force of Madhya Pradesh Police. According to Congress General secretary, only two days ago he had submitted some cricual papers to the ng the Vyapam scam. The Delhi Police has ruled out any foul play at this stage and projected the death of the Jabalpur Medical College dean as natural.

Last year on July 4, previous dean of jabalpur medical College Dr DK Sakalle was found burnt to death at his residence.
More than 3 dozen persons, including witnesses, accused and others involved in the Vyapam case investigations have died under mysterious circumstances.

The pressure is mounting on the Madhya Pradesh Government to hand over the Vyapam case to the CBI. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh is leading the campaign for handing over this case to CBI.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh’s take on this demand is that his Government has no problem if ‪‎Vyapam‬ Scam is handed over to CBI but wants courts to order CBI probe.

Vyapam scam case relates to forgery and criminal conspiracy by the functionaries of MP State Professional Examination Board authorities, a former state Minister and several middlemen and powerful personalities linked with the ruling BJP and the Rajbhawan to manipulate results for admission in medical colleges and recruitment of contractual teachers, and transport department staff. Closet to 2000 persons have been arrested in this case, including former state Higher Education MNinister Laxmikant Sharma, his OSD OP Shukla and State Governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s OSD. The Govedrnor’s son, who was also an accused in this case also died recently in Lucknow. The FIR against the state Governor in this case has been withdrawn on orders of the High Court.