Examination Board scam: Chouhan to file defamation case

Unfazed over allegations of wrongdoings in Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam, state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday said he will soon file a defamation case on the issue.

However, he did not specify against whom he wished to do so.

"We have verified all information about allegations and have made all preparations to file a defamation case and would give statement in the court," Chouhan told reporters at the party office, without taking any name.

State Congress chief spokesman K K Mishra had last week demanded a CBI probe to unearth the "nexus among middlemen, politicians, bureaucrats and education mafia which is behind the scam."

He claimed he was in possession of some SMSes which were purportedly sent by various people, including politicians and even some journalists among others, to the MPPEB exam controller Pankaj Trivedi and the system analyst Nitin Mahindra -- both the main accused in the case -- and mining baron Sudhir Sharma.

However, state BJP general secretary Nandkumar Singh Chouhan had said "the allegations related to the MPPEB scam were baseless and concocted."

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had on Sunday accused Chouhan of allegedly being involved in the teacher recruitment scam in the state, a charge rubbished by the MP government as "untrue".

Meanwhile, addressing BJP workers at Khajuraho during the two-day session of BJP MLAs which concluded on Sunday, Chouhan said the party leaders are not required to bow their heads in shame as his government has not done anything wrong.

The chief minister also said that the Special Task Force as probing the case and truth would come out in the matter.

STF had arrested former state technical education minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Sharma on June 15 for his alleged involvement in the contractual teachers recruitment scam.

Over 100 students who allegedly cleared the Pre-Medical Test through unfair means had also been arrested by STF from different districts of Madhya Pradesh.

PMT was conducted by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, whose top officials were already arrested by STF since the scam surfaced in 2013.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress has decided to stage a gherao of Chouhan's residence in Bhopal on June 27 to demand his resignation in connection with the MPPEB scam.

"I feel that the scam could not have taken place without Chouhan's knowledge and hence it is necessary to demand his resignation," state Youth Congress president Kunal Choudhary told PTI.

Around 10,000 Youth Congress workers from all over the state are expected to take part in the gherao, he said.

Kunal also criticised the STF for arresting girls, for their alleged involvement in the PMT scam, at around midnight.

The STF should have chosen some decent time to make the arrests so that the girls were not put to any inconvenience, he said.