Vyapam Scam: Whistle-Blower Fears Attack, Roams With Police Even on His Bicycle

Image Source: Dainik Bhaskar

Ashish Chaturvedi, a resident of Gwalior, is often seen commuting in a bicycle with a security guard sitting at the back. While the scene may appear strange and hilarious, the reasons are far more serious and frightening.

Chaturvedi, 26, is a whistle-blower in the Vyapam Scam. After receiving multiple threats, he was given police protection by a court order. Today, he receives round the clock police protection, with his two security guards equipped with bikes and weapons. But since Chaturvedi cannot drive a bike himself and since sitting on the back seat of a bike makes a person vulnerable to attacks, he is compelled to carry a guard on the back seat of his bicycle.

According to Ashish Chaturvedi investigators have so much information that could bring the government down but so far they have just gone after students, middlemen, and lower officials and are not even probing the roles of the big fish in the state.

Even with security guards trailing him, an unidentified biker allegedly made an attempt on his life on May 18, two days before he was to depose before an additional district judge’s court. He has been attacked 14 times by unknown assailants, Six of the assaults took place in front of a police officer assigned by a court to protect him last year.

More recently, on June 30, Chaturvedi and Anand Rai, one more key whistle-blower in the Vyapam Scam, approached the Supreme Court and sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the mysterious deaths of over 40 witnesses in the case. They have also sought a CBI inquiry into allegedly illegal admissions to a range of dental and medical state quota seats in private medical colleges through the state’s Dental and Medical Admission Test (DMAT) exam – a scam that might be even bigger than the Vyapam Scam.

Vyapam Scam is multimillion-dollar corruption where Since 2007, tens of thousands of students and job aspirants have paid hefty bribes to middlemen, bureaucrats and politicians to rig test results for medical schools and government jobs.

Read more at washingtonpost.com