Why Vyapam scam has the makings of a Hollywood thriller

There have been umpteen number of scams in independent India, with Congress-led United Progressive Alliance-2 (UPA) government of Manmohan Singh losing the 2014 elections primarily due to a perception of it being one of the most corrupt governments in the last 67 years. But the Madhya Pradesh Vyapam (Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal) scam is fast overtaking the scams during the UPA 2 government like 2G spectrum, coal block allocation, Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Housing Society, if not in terms of money then certainly in respect of the mysterious deaths of about 46 people associated with it.

The mystery angle of the deaths in the Vyapam scam has generated immense curiosity among the people with all kinds of conspiracy theories afloat -- some seeming plausible while others are quite weird. There may have been one Aarushi Talwar or one Sunanda Pushkar murder which still remain a mystery with people asking “After all, who killed Aarushi?” or “Who killed Sunanda?” But Vyapam is full of not one or two but dozens of such Aarushis and Sunandas. One of them is certainly Aaj Tak journalist Akshay Singh, who died in Jhabua on July 4 while covering the scam.

There is a wide range of speculations regarding the foul play involved in the deaths of the deceased persons in the Vyapam scam. For instance, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, in a tweet on July 5, asked whether Polonium was administered to Akshay and some other victims.

Is A death a day the Vyappam way? Can Akshay Singh mysteriously pass away? Is it Polonium all the way?Will deaths take quest for truth away

— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) July 5, 2015

According to one theory, even Sunanda, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, may have been administered Polonium 210, a radioactive isotope suspected to be the poison that may have caused her death. The cause of her death has yet not been established as her viscera sample is still being examined.

While Polonium is being talked about in the national capital, in Madhya Pradesh towns there is a buzz that snake venom has been used to kill people. In the forest abundant state, after all it is easy to procure snake venom, they say.

It is a fact that crores of rupees have changed hands in the admission to professional courses and recruitment of jobs by unfair means. It is being said that not less than Rs 50 lakh was charged for an admission to any medical college. In Bhopal, people are convinced that international hawala racket was involved to pay the money.

Therefore, by the same logic, now international mafia is in operation to silence those who could spill the beans. The mafia is using novel means and hi-tech weapons like the Chinese guns to prey upon the accused persons, they conclude.

Looking at the number of doctors involved in the scam, one of the theories goes as far as suggesting that a simultaneous large scale organ transplant racket may have also taken place.

There is also a refrain that the cause of death in most of the cases may never be known because, barring the few recent incidents, the bodies of the rest have been cremated or buried and the viscera samples have not been preserved.