It was his keen desire to become vice chancellor of a state university that motivated Pankaj Trivedi, former chairman of Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) and one of the key accused in PEB scam, to find access to Raj Bhavan.
Once he came in contact with governor's former officer on special duty (OSD) Dhanraj Yadav, Trivedi started frequenting Raj Bhavan and gradually became close to governor's son Shailesh Yadav and later governor Ramnaresh Yadav himself.
Proximity to Trivedi cost the governor and his son dear, as their names find place in the Special Task Force (STF) FIRs related to two different scams.
While Shailesh was made accused in contract teachers' eligibility test, governor has been accused of recommending names to Trivedi for appointmnt as forest guard.
Trivedi, who is an accused in all the cases related to MPPEB scam, had joined the office of MPPEB as controller of examination in May 2011, while Ramnaresh Yadav assumed the office of governor on September 8 in 2011.
"Trivedi had met with the then OSD to governor Dhanraj Yadav through one of his relatives and had expressed desire to become vice-chancellor. The latter promised to help him appointed as vice-chancellor. Since then they were meeting frequently. This was revealed by Trivedi, when he was being interrogated about the involvement of governor, Dhanraj Yadav and Shailesh Yadav in different cases related to the scam," said an STF officer, on the condition of anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}"Trivedi had met with the then OSD to governor Dhanraj Yadav through one of his relatives and had expressed desire to become vice-chancellor. The latter promised to help him appointed as vice-chancellor. Since then they were meeting frequently. This was revealed by Trivedi, when he was being interrogated about the involvement of governor, Dhanraj Yadav and Shailesh Yadav in different cases related to the scam," said an STF officer, on the condition of anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}Dhanraj Yadav had introduced Trivedi to Shailesh Yadav and sought his help to meet his desire, said the officer.
In his statement, Dhanraj Yadav, who is in jail, also told his interrogators that Pankaj Trivedi wanted to become vice-chancellor and he was in touch with him for that purpose.
Recently STF, which is probing the multi-layered MPPEB scam, have recovered the visitor log book of Raj Bhawan from 2011 to 2013. The log book revealed that Trivedi had visited Raj Bhawan several times between 2012 and 2013. He had even visited Raj Bhawan twice a day at times.
The STF inquiries suggest that Trivedi had got nearly 25 candidates recruited fraudulently in different government jobs on the recommendation of the Raj Bhavan, whether it was made by the governor or his son.