E-Paper
70 jailed Vyapam accused to prez: Grant us bail or allow us to die
Seventy medical students and junior doctors, who are lodged in Gwalior central jail for allegedly rigging their entrance examination, wrote to the President on Saturday, requesting him to either grant them bail or allow them to commit suicide.
Seventy medical students and junior doctors, who are lodged in Gwalior central jail for allegedly rigging their entrance examination, wrote to the President on Saturday, requesting him to either grant them bail or allow them to commit suicide.
In the letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, the students sought permission for euthanasia, as they said the slow pace of investigation into the Vyapam scam was keeping them from justice and had made their future uncertain. HT is in possession of a copy of the letter. The jail authorities, however, feigned ignorance about the letter.
A few days back, five students admitted to the MBBS course at Gajra Raja Medical College in 2010 had also pleaded with the President either to allow them live a life of dignity or commit suicide. The students said that though the Special Investigation Team (SIT) -- which was probing the scam before the CBI stepped in -- had cleared them of all accusations, they were mentally harassed by the college administration.
The first page of the letter sent by the 70 Vyapam accused to the President.
Now, the 70 students, who are lodged in the Gwalior jail as undertrials, alleged that to cover up the irregularities committed by the officers and employees of Vyapam, or the state examination board, students and junior doctors were being made "scapegoats".
“Although we are in prison for several months, our cases are still under trial. This delay has put our future in the dark. We are facing social and mental harassment,” the letter said.
Read: 5 Vyapam accused students to prez: Give justice or allow us to die
The students said that many of the accused were junior doctors and working at different hospitals before they were lodged in jails. Their families were on the verge of starvation, the letter said.
“The financial condition of our families is deteriorating by the day. The inequality in judicial system is responsible for (the) delay in our bail. Meanwhile, the accused, who were incarcerated in Bhopal and Jabalpur Central Jail, under same sections, have been granted bail from both sessions and high court. We are in extreme mental trauma and want to commit suicide,” the letter said.
When contacted, Gwalior jail superintendent Dinesh Nargave said: “We have no information about such letter, because no letter has been sent from the jail. Maybe the accused sent the letter through their family members and visitors.”
More than 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the scam since it came to light in 2013, and as many as 40 people with links to the scam have died mysteriously.
Many politicians, bureaucrats and middlemen are said to be involved in the scam which, according to police, involved scamsters employing imposters to write tests conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board for admission to professional courses and recruitment in government jobs.
The scamsters also supplied forged answer sheets by bribing officials between 2012 and 2013.
Read:Did STF use ‘dead leads’ to deviate Vyapam scam probe?
We are his first victims: Vyapam kingpin Jagdish Sagar's kin
