MPPEB scam: OSD to former minister appears before STF

A former officer on special duty (OSD) to former transport minister Jagdish Devda appeared before the special task force (STF) on Thursday in connection with the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam.

Rajendra Gurjar, the former OSD, was absconding after his name figured in an FIR filed by the special task force (STF) in connection with the forest guard recruitment scam-2013.

Governor Ram Naresh Yadav was an accused in the case but the Madhya Pradesh high court had quashed the FIR against him.

Gurjar turned up at the STF headquarters after the high court directed him to record his statement before May 21, sources said.

He had moved the high court seeking an anticipatory bail, but the court turned it down and told him to record his statement with the STF, the sources said.

Gurjar, a resident of Prempura village under Gormi police station in Bhind district, had recommended two candidates for recruitment as forest guards.

Sources said Gurjar got his candidates – both from Bhind district -- recruited through his links with former exams controller of MPPEB Pankaj Trivedi and former principal systems analyst Nitin Mahindra.

Both the officials had been jailed. “His name was found in an excel sheet recovered from the hard disc of Mahindra’s computer. Pankaj Trivedi had also revealed his name,” said an STF official.

The official said Gurjar didn’t appear before the STF though many notices were issued to him for questioning.

Later, the STF declared a cash reward of Rs 1,000 on his arrest. Gurjar was being interrogated till the filling of the report.

STF officials hinted that he might be arrested after the interrogation.