Bhopal: The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs three crore of an alleged mastermind of the 'Vyapam' scam in connection with its money laundering probe in the case.
Official sources said about 21 acres of land, four luxury cars and jewellery and cash worth Rs 3.33 crore in the name of Jagdish Sagar were attached by the Indore office of the agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), few days back.
The Special Task Force (STF) of Madhya Pradesh Police had named Sagar and two others as the alleged mastermind of the MP Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), 'Vyapam' in Hindi, scam which pertains to fraudulent selection of candidates to state government services.
The MPPEB scam was unearthed in July, 2013 by Indore Police by arresting "Munnabhais" (scorers) who appeared for original candidates in Pre-Medical Test (PMT) examination conducted by the Board. Later, the government handed over the case to STF for indepth investigations.
During investigations, it also came to light that the scam involves other examinations including for recruitment of contractual teachers, patwaris and transport inspectors and others.
The STF, in supervision of the SIT, had filed a charge sheet against 28 persons in connection with the PMT scam allegedly involving MPPEB officials and racketeers in 2013.
ED had registered a case in 2014 based on the STF FIR. The central probe agency has named former state Higher Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma and 27 others in its FIR.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in the state Assembly last year, had admitted that 1,000 out of the over 1.47 lakh appointments and selections made by MP MPPEB since 2007 were found to be fake.
