Bhopal, Jul 22 (IANS): Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh has written to successor Chief Minister Kamal Nath asking him to bring to book the key conspirators in the Vyapam scam.

In a letter written to Kamal Nath on Monday, Singh said: "In 2013, the rigging of entrance tests conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) or 'Vyapam' came to light. But limiting the scope of the scam to pre-medical test (for admissions to medical colleges), the then government only acted against students. It implicated students while saving the main accused involved in the scam."

According to the letter: "Cases were filed against at least 3,000 people, including 1,450 students and their family members, in the PMT scam. But the extent of the scam is not limited to the PMT alone as 'Vyapam' also conducts employment exams and people recruited through these exams are still working with the state government."

Giving the example of the Haryana Teachers' Recruitment scam, he wrote: "After that scam came to light, the candidates were made state approvers because of which the role of the key conspirators came to light and they were punished. In Madhya Pradesh, the candidates have been made accused to save the conspirators."

The Congress leaders asked the Chief Minister to get justice to helpless students who were at the mercy of the conspirators.

The Vyapam scam came to light after the Indore Crime Branch on July 7, 2013 arrested 20 people who had come to impersonate candidates for PMT 2009. The interrogation of these people led to the arrest of Jagdish Sagar, the leader of an organised racket involved in the scam. On 26 August 2013, the state government handed over the case to a Special Task Force (STF).

Taking cognisance of the case, the Supreme Court in April 2014 ordered setting up of a Special Investigation Team under retired Justice Chandresh Bhushan. The STF was asked to work under the SIT. In July 2015, the Supreme Court transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Some 2,000 people, including former state minister Laxmikant Sharma, his officer on special duty O.P.Shukla, BJP leader Sudhir Sharma, former governor's OSD Dhananjay Yadav, Vyapam controller Pankaj Trivedi and computer analyst Nitin Mohindra, have so far faced imprisonment in the case.

While more than 45 people related to the case have died, more than 400 are said to be absconding.