Besides manipulating the admission for his daughter and son-in-law, he is also accused of committing fraud in the examination for recruitment of police sub-inspectors.

The case of DIG RK Shivhare is not an exception. Dozens of cases of massive corruption have been bared in MP over the last few months. In fact, many such cases came to light during the November 2013 Vidhan Sabha elections in the State also. Almost every day a new case came to light during the Vidhan Sabha elections. The cases were related to admissions in medical and dentistry colleges, recruitment in police, education and other departments, besides the pre-medical test.

Dozens of highly-placed officers are facing prosecution for their involvement in frauds of various dimensions. Some of them are in the prison. The same trend continued during the Lok Sabha election. Almost every day, some or other corrupt activity would be exposed.

For instance, on April 23, middleman Yogendra Solanki, who was booked by STF for acting as an agent in connection with forest guard recruitment fraud, was sent on judicial remand. The Special Task force (STF) of the state police had produced him in a court. He had taken Rs. 3 lakh each from two persons for their appointment as forest guards. STF had already arrested Dharmendra Nigam, Kuldeep Dauneria and Bhagirath Kemor, all residents of Morena – who had been selected for appointment as forest guards. Others took the examination in place of the trio. Nigam and Kuldeep had paid Rs. three lakh each to Yogendra Solanki while Bhagirath had given Rs. 50,000 to another middleman to clear the test.

In another case, two Indore medical college students and their fathers were directly sent to jail instead of being sent on police remand. They all were involved in manipulating admission in medical colleges despite the fact that they did not possess requisite qualification for getting selected.

In other case, the special Investigation force filed a 40-page challan against Surendra Singh Duda alias Duji and Vikas Kinha of Haryana in connection with police constable recruitment fraud.

Duji who cleared the exams and was posted at Cyber Cell of the police in Bhopal was arrested and during the interrogation he revealed that Vikas Kinha of Haryana had taken the entrance test in place of him. Kinha was arrested from Haryana and disclosed that he was given Rs. 1 lakh to appear in the exams as an imposter.

In other case Bharatiya Janata Party faced embarrassment when Punam Rai, Income Tax Deputy Commissioner was arrested on the charge of accepting bribe. This arrest was embarrassing for the BJP because Punam Rai’s husband was also arrested along with her. The husband, Ganesh Malaviya, happens to be a prominent leader of the BJP. Not only that, it was alleged that the terms and quantum of bribery was negotiated in the state headquarters of the BJP at Bhopal. After his arrest Malaviya told the media “I was a BJP worker, I am BJP worker and I will continue to be part of the BJP.”

Malaviya’s arrest also caused direct embarrassment to Narendra Modi as the Congress released a photograph in which Malaviya was shown standing by the side of Modi.

Malaviya is described as a habitual extortionist, who used to blackmail high-worth income tax payers by assuring that their tax assessment would be lowered if they paid a certain amount. He had the advantage of being the husband of a senior Income Tax Officer and also a leader of the BJP.

In another case, a Patwari was found to be the owner of property worth Rs. 20 crores. His illegal wealth was detected during a raid by the Lokayukta.

Yet another sensational disclosure was unravelled in the course of audit of the state’s professional examination Board, which is the sole government organisation which holds test for recruitment to various departments and also for admission to professional institutions.

The audit reports, released by member of transparency international Ajay Dubey shed light on financial wrongdoings in the board.

“What has come to light through the audit report is shocking and puts a serious question mark on the senior bureaucrats who were successive chairpersons of the board. Financial irregularities continued in the tenure of six senior officers who were chairpersons of the board from time to time,” Dubey said.

Senior IAS officers Ajit Raizada, Ranveer Singh, SK Chaturvedi, Dilip Mehra, MK Rai and Ranjana Chaudhary remained chairpersons in the board from time to time.

Government auditors had pointed about missing answer sheet records and excess printing of applications, test admit cards and missing records of strong room in reports. Dubey said “Financial irregularities exposed by the auditors indicate some serious corruption running in the board and senior officials failed to prevent it.”

He said probe should be conducted by special investigation team (SIT) under supervision of the high court. He said missing internal audit report of chartered accountant firm, which also does audit of IAS officers’ Association, also raised various suspicions in this regards.

These instances are only tip of the iceberg. Several other scams also came to light during a last few months. Those found involved in these scams are ministers and top officials – some of them close to the Chief Minister and also some Congressman

Laxmikant Sharma, who was a very powerful minister, holding key departments of information and publicity and higher and technical education in the last government, is being probed for his involvement in recommending candidates for selection in various recruitment tests. His officer on special duty is already in jail. An IAS couple is facing dismissal for possessing wealth to the tune of Rs. 300 crores.

It is surprising and shocking that despite scams involving tens of crores of rupees, the BJP not only retained power but increased its tally in the Vidhan Sabha polls. If, as predicted, the BJP wins more seats in the Lok Sabha then can it be safely concluded that corruption is not at all an election issue. And that means that the BJP’s tirade against UPA-2 for being the most corrupt government may not yield the expected results. (IPA Service)