The stink of deaths

Before embarking on his yet another foreign visit Prime Minister Modi perhaps should have taken time to visit Madhya Pradesh, where the sudden and unexplained deaths of witnesses and suspects in a job/admission scam (better known as Yyapam), have baffled the country. Three deaths in three days — of a journalist, a Dean and a trainee Sub-Inspector - have jolted everyone even as the Shivraj Chouhan government insists on the ongoing high court-monitored SIT probe to ward off demand for a professional investigator. An inquiry by an agency and officers from outside the state can no longer be put off.

Given the magnitude of the scandal (2,000 arrests and Rs 2,000 crore allegedly exchanged hands) and the large number of scam-related deaths, maybe it is time the Supreme Court took over the case. The credibility of the state investigating agencies is zero. The Opposition has demanded a CBI probe but the Chief Minister has steadfastly opposed this. It seems Chouhan does not trust the CBI that operates under his own party's government at the Centre. There may a reason for this other than the commonly alleged attempt to shield the high-profile accused. It has not gone unnoticed that the BJP leadership has not defended Shivraj Singh Chauhan as it did the two other senior leaders in trouble — Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj. In fact, in March Prime Minister Modi even entertained a Congress delegation led by Digvijaya Singh, which submitted to him scam-related documents but without the desired outcome. Now Finance Minister Jaitley and a BJP general secretary have also demanded a fair and detailed inquiry into the deaths to put doubts at rest. It is well known that Shivraj Chouhan, like Sushma Swaraj, was (is?) in the LK Advani camp that resisted Modi's ascendency to power.

On Monday the Supreme Court admitted a petition for the removal of Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, also accused in the scam. When the high court provided him immunity from prosecution, the Centre did not strip him of the post so that he could face the law. The Modi government, therefore, cannot wash its hands of the deadly goings-on in Madhya Pradesh. No serious businessman will think of investing in a country where suspicious deaths are rampant in a major province.