Vyapam scam: Gulab Singh Kirar’s arrest face-saving attempt of MP Govt.

New Delhi, July 17:The Congress Party on Friday dubbed the suspension of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gulab Singh Kirar, who has been named in an FIR by the CBI in the Vyapam scam, as a face-saving attempt of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh Government.

Congress leader Shobha Ojha sought an explanation from the BJP-led government in Madhya Pradesh as to why no action was initiated against Kiran against whom the FIR had been registered last year.

“The FIR was registered against Gulab Singh Kirar, who is distantly related to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in 2014. Neither the SIT nor the STF quizzed him or called him for questioning after 2014. Despite the FIR being registered against him, he was appointed the member of the panel representing the backward classes. And he was seen standing alongside the Chief Minister on many occasion, but was never arrested,” Ojha told ANI here.

“Now that the CBI is investigating (the case), he has been suspended as part of face saving. One should ask the government as to why no action was initiated on an individual against whom the FIR was lodged in 2014,” she added.

Kirar, who is a member of the state backward class and minority welfare commission, was removed yesterday. The move came a day after the CBI filed its first cases in the scam.

The CBI has constituted a special team of 40 officers, headed by a Joint Director-level officer, to probe the scam.

The Supreme Court had last week transferred all cases relating to the Vyapam scam to the CBI. (ANI)