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Uma Bharti 'scared' after deaths

Last Updated 06 July 2015, 20:09 IST
At a time when the Narendra Modi government and the BJP central leadership are backing beleaguered Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati has raked up old rivalry by saying she feels “scared” and “fears” that her name might be dragged into the Vyapam scam.   

“I am scared, and I fear they might be harmed and it may sully my image,” said Bharati when asked about the increasing number of deaths of people linked with the scam.
The latest among the deaths are a trainee sub-inspector recruited through Vyapam.

The apprehensions of Bharati, who has had a running feud with Chauhan for years now after she was ousted from the state politics when he became chief minister, are similar to those expressed by Opposition parties, who have been demanding a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe to unravel the mysterious deaths of over 40 people linked to the scam. They have also sought Chauhan’s sacking to ensure a fair probe.

The BJP MP from Jhansi said options should be explored for an independent probe into cases registered so far in the scam, in which around 2,500 are named as accused in 55 different cases. Though the saffron-clad minister tried to do a balancing act by insisting that she had “full faith in the SIT and Chauhan for the truth to come out”, she said she felt hurt when named as an accused in one of the FIRs, and when the case details were leaked to the media. “The mental stress I felt was the same as any other innocent person would in that situation,” she said.

Leela Dhar, who lives in the servant quarters of an official bungalow of Bharati in Madhya Pradesh, was named an accused in one of the cases. The MP ex-chief minister said local police tried to implicate Leela in a fabricated case.
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(Published 06 July 2015, 17:10 IST)

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