Vyapam deaths spook Uma Bharti

The Vyapam cloud darkened over the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh with two more deaths in the state getting linked to the admissions and recruitment racket and Union water resources minister Uma Bharati saying even she was scared by the spate of mysterious deaths. “There is panic in MP due to the deaths. I am scared for the lives of people connected to me. I am a minister but still I am scared. I will convey my fears to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan,“ Bharati said.
Her statement came on a day when two more persons --a woman sub-inspector Anamika Kushwaha, recruited through the MP Professional Examination Board, and police constable Ramakant Pandey , a suspect in the scam--died under suspicious circumstances.
Both were said to have committed suicide. But like in other deaths connected to the scam, the explanation failed to lift the stench of conspiracy . In the case of Kushwaha, who was found in a lake in Sagar, her father refused to cry foul play , but her sister found the death suspicious. Pandey was found hanging from a ceiling fan at a tourist police outpost in Orchha, Tikamgarh, his place of posting. He had been questioned by the Special Task Force probing the scam a few months ago. Tikamgarh SP Nimish Agarwal said Pandey , an alcoholic, had been depressed because he was saddled with mounting debt.
The two cases came after the spooky deaths of TV journalist Akshay Singh just after talking to the family of Namrata Damor, an alleged beneficiary of the admission racket who was found dead near railway tracks three years ago, and Dr Arun Sharma, dean of a medical college in Jabalpur. Sharma was part of the probe into fraudulent admissions in the medical college as part of the fraud.
Uma Bharati, meanwhile, expressed resentment over being included in one of the Vyapam-related FIRs on the basis of the statement of an accused.
The day saw BJP spokespersons aggressively rallying around the successful satrap who risks getting stained by the scam but there was recognition that Chouhan's own credentials may not be sufficient for his defence. With the SIT set to submit its charge-sheet in the scam by July 15, there are fears of the death toll rising because of the likely desperation among the kingpins.
There are indications that the Chouhan government may agree to any suggestion by the Supreme Court to hand over the probe to the CBI--a demand already made by Congress and others--in order to control the damage.