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Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh), Jul 6 (IANS): Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said there was no need for a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam as the SIT investigating the scandal reported to the Madhya Pradesh High Court and not the state government.

"SIT (Special Investigation Team) is probing it... the SIT is not working under the government, but under the supervision of the high court. I think things which have influenced Vyapam... the high court will take cognizance of them," Rajnath Singh told the media while on a visit to Madhya Pradesh.

The home minister appealed to political parties not to influence the probe as it was under the high court.

"An SIT probe is on. It is a high court decision whether the CBI should probe. How can we influence the high court and the Supreme Court?" he said, adding that there was an attempt to make an issue "out of a non-issue".

"The Madhya Pradesh chief minister has said he wanted the issue probed independently and the probe is on.

"When the high court feels that the SIT is not able to probe properly... and if given a direction, then the government is ready for a CBI probe," he added.

Not right to link every death with Vyapam, says Chouhan

Bhopal, July 6 (IANS): It is not at all right to link every death with Vyapam, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday, the day a female trainee police sub-inspector committed suicide.

Chouhan said every death is sad, but it is not fair to link every death with Vyapam.

The chief minister spoke after Anamika Kushwaha, a trainee at the Jawaharlal Nehru Training Centre at Sagar, jumped to her death in a nearby pond early Monday.

Chouhan said Anamika's death was not linked to the raging Vyapam scam.

The admission and recruitment racket in the Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam) or the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board apparently involves politicians, officials and businessmen.

More than 40 people associated with the scam have died since 2013 - either in mysterious circumstances or have committed suicides.

Just a day before Anamika killed herself, Arun Sharma, the dean of a medical college in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh who was connected with the scam probe, was found dead in a hotel room near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Sharma, 64, was assisting the team probing the recruitment scam by providing documents on fake medical entrance examinees in the state-run college, police said.

Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra said that as far as Arun Sharma's death is concerned, "it is not linked to Vyapam".

The most high-profile death in the case has been of Shailesh Yadav, son of Governor Ram Naresh Yadav. Shailesh, 50, was found dead at his father's residence in Lucknow on March 25.

There are conflicting number of deaths related to Vyapam scam. Congress puts these deaths at 48, while the Special Investigation Team's figure is 33.

Opposition seeks SC-monitored Vyapam probe

The Congress and the AAP on Sunday hit out at the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government over the recruitment scam in the state's Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (or Vyapam), and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe after a TV journalist covering the scandal died under mysterious circumstances.

"A Supreme Court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe is needed. There is no bar on it even as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is already probing the case," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said at a press conference here.

He said the SIT set up by Madhya Pradesh Police was "not doing enough to unearth the truth" and the case should now be transferred to the CBI.

"We want the truth to come out. Justice should prevail. We all must join our heads and hands so that justice is served to the victims," Surjewala said.

The Congress accused Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of "misleading the people and parroting his old line" on the demand to get the case investigated by an impartial investigating agency.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which said Vyapam was no longer a scam, claimed it had become a "narsanhar" (massacre) and demanded that the ongoing probe by the SIT should be overseen by the Supreme Court.

"It is sad that one of our journalist friends has died while reporting the Vyapam scam," AAP spokesman Dilip Pandey told the media here. "Vyapam is no longer a scam, it has become a 'narsanhar' (massacre)."

Pandey said both Chouhan and Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav should be sacked.

"How can we expect a fair probe from the governor (who is overseeing the SIT) when his own name is in the FIR of the Vyapam scam?" asked the AAP leader.

The political parties' reaction followed Saturday's death of New Delhi-based TV reporter Akshay Singh in Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district while he was covering the scandal.

Akshay Singh -- of TV channel Aaj Tak -- who died in Jhabua on Saturday afternoon, was cremated in Delhi on Sunday. His family, a large number of journalists and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia were present at the cremation grounds.

Pakshi Singh, the journalist's sister, on Sunday demanded that his viscera should be examined outside Madhya Pradesh for a fair investigation.

In a letter to Chouhan, she requested that her brother's viscera preferably be sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

"My brother's viscera will be examined in Delhi," she told IANS later on Sunday evening, confirming that her demand was accepted.

Meanwhile, Arun Sharma, the dean of a medical college in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh who was also connected with the scam probe, was found dead in a hotel near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. He was on his way to Tripura as a member of an inspection team of the Medical Council of India.

Sharma, 64, was assisting the Special Task Force probing the recruitment scam by providing documents on fake medical entrance examinees in the state-run college, police said.

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh said at least 48 people have died in connection with the scam.

K.K. Mishra, chief spokesperson of the state Congress, on Sunday said Arun Sharma, who was found dead in a Delhi hotel, was of sound health and suffering from no illness.

Arun Sharma's Bengaluru-based brother Deval Sharma, who is also a doctor, urged Delhi Police not to conduct any medical procedure on the body till he reaches the capital.

Journalist Akshay Singh, who was in Jhabua on Saturday to talk to the family members of scam-accused Namrata Damor, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances, suddenly fell ill and began foaming in the mouth. He was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Congress leader Mishra said the cause of the journalist's death was said to be a heart attack, "but in such cases, there is no foaming in the mouth".

He said Chief Minister Chouhan's "refusal" to order a CBI probe shows his complicity in the scandal.

Mishra also alleged that Chouhan's wife Sadhna Singh was also linked with the Vyapam scam, and used to regularly contact over phone the people involved in it.

Congress playing politics over dead bodies: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday accused the Congress of playing politics over "dead bodies" and maintained that only the high court can refer the investigation into the Vyapam scam to the CBI.

Party leaders also said that not all deaths should be linked to the scam.

"One should understand the technicalities of the matter. The high court is already enquiring into the matter. We can't ignore high court and ask for a CBI enquiry," BJP's vice-president and Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh Prabhat Jha told media persons here.

He added: "If the high court itself says that it can't proceed with the investigation, then the government of Madhya Pradesh will decide the next course of action."

Jha also accused the Congress of playing politics over dead bodies.

"Congress is playing politics over deaths. They should not play politics over dead bodies," he said.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain advised the Congress to have faith in the judiciary.

"They (Congress) went to Supreme Court and it said that the matter is under high courts's jurisdiction. Does Congress consider itself above SC," he asked.

The Congress does not have faith in the judicial system. the high court is monitoring the investigation, Hussain told media persons.

Meanwhile, another BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narsimha Rao said the death of Arun Sharma, the dean of Madhya Pradesh medical college, who was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi, was natural.

"No one should really jump to any conclusion to link it with Vyapam. We consider this death (of Arun Sharma) to be completely natural. It has nothing to do with Vyapam," Rao told the media.

Autopsy on Sharma's body will be performed in Safdarjung Hospital on Monday.