New Delhi:
A mystery woman has now emerged as a key protagonist in the "killer" Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh that has generated much political heat after a spate of mysterious deaths of those accused in the case or listed as witnesses.
The First Information Report or FIR prepared by the state police's Special Task Force (STF) and accessed by NDTV makes a coded reference in Hindi to a 'Mantrani'. The reference is based on data recovered from Pankaj Trivedi and Nitin Mohindra who both are accused in the case. Excel sheets on the hard disks confiscated by the STF from Mr Trivedi's computer detail a list of those involved in the buying and selling of seats in government medical colleges in the state. In one such column is the entry 'Mantrani'. When interrogated by the STF, Mr Trivedi seemed to have been deliberately ambiguous in his response. According to the FIR, he told investigators that 'Mantrani' was either a "female minister or a minister's wife."
The mystery 'Mantrani' reference has given fresh ammunition to the opposition Congress in the state. It says the STF should explain why it never pursued this lead to its logical conclusion and why the identity of the 'Mantrani" was never made public in an FIR that lists scores of other accused by name, including the state's Governor Ram Naresh Yadav.
In the past, Congress leader Digivijaya Singh had even tried to drag Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's wife into the controversy by saying that she had links with a key accused in the scam, mining baron Sudhir Sharma. Speaking to NDTV, Mr Chouhan called this "cheap, low level politics of a non-serious person like Digvijaya Singh". The Chief Minister also pointed out that Mr Singh had been accused by the Special Task Force of submitting forged documents in the case.
But in data recognised as genuine and untampered with by the same Special Task Force, the mystery 'Mantrani' reference crops up, begging the question - will we ever know who she is?