India state seeks new scam probe amid death frenzy

NEW DELHI ,
The embattled chief minister of India's
Madhya Pradesh  state Tuesday asked
federal investigators to carry out  an
independent probe into a jobs scandal
after a spate of deaths which opponents
have linked to the scam,

Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested
since 2013 over the so called Vyapan
scandal in which thousands of people
are alleged to have paid bribes in return
for jobs on the state payroll or for places
in education institutes.

But opponents of the Madhayas Pradesh
state government run by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi 's Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) say the scandal is even more
wideranging and goes right to the top of
the administration,

The sudden death of a television journalist
at the weekend while reporting on the
scandal has fuelled allegations of a mass
conspiracy that have been widely reported
by Indian newspapers and broadcasters .

Some reports say dozens of people linked
to the scandal ,whether as suspects in the
inquiry or else as witnesses or investigators
have died in the last few years

While there is little evidence to connect
any of the deaths  or to suggest foul play
,the main opposition Congress has accused
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan of
direct involvement in the scandal from his
time as state education minister and demanded
his resignation,

Chaouhan had previously tried to fend  off
the accusations,saying that an ongoing
inquiry by state investigators would get to the
bottom of the allegations and there was no
need foe s federal probe,
AFP