The death of Akshay Singh, the India Today group journalist who suddenly took ill and died yesterday, has led to further murkiness in the Vyapam scam. Singh had called on the parents of Namrata Damor, whose body had been found under mysterious circumstances near railway tracks in Ujjain district.
Namrata’s father Mehtab Singh Damor said Akshay and two others visited their house and after the interview was over, someone was sent to get some papers photocopied.
As Akshay was waiting outside Damor’s house, suddenly he started frothing at the mouth. He was rushed to a civil hospital and later to a private hospital, but doctors failed to revive him. From there he was taken to another hospital in nearby Dahod in Gujarat, where he was declared brought dead.
Jhabua district’s Superintendent of Police Abid Khan confirmed that a person named Akshay Singh had died in Meghnagar.
An official said that a panel of three doctors was conducting post mortem in Dahod.
The opposition Congress has been demanding a CBI probe into the matter.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Babulal Gaur said the decision as to whether further probe was necessary into Akshay’s death would be taken only after getting the autopsy report.
Let the post-mortem report come first...then we will decide on probing the issue further.
— Babulal Gaur, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister to PTI
About the significant number of deaths of accused and witnesses in the Vyapam scam, he said the matter was before the court and also under investigation.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who had for quite some time been targeting the BJP government of Madhya Pradesh and its Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the scam, has raised questions about his death.
The India Today Group has said that the cause of the death is “not clear” and hopes that doctors and law enforcement agencies are able to establish the reason behind it.
The cause of his sudden demise is not yet clear. We mourn the death of our valued colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with Akshay’s family. We hope that doctors and law enforcement agencies are able to establish the cause of Akshay’s death.
— India Today Group statement
The Vyapam scam involves the forgery, impersonation, bribery and cheating committed by Madhya Pradesh Professional Exam Board officials in this process of the selection of candidates. At least 25 accused/witnesses have died so far in the Vyapam scam and some reports have claimed that 44 people associated with the scam have died so far.
There have been a number of deaths associated with the scam. For a visual representation of the death incidents, click here.
Akshay’s Last Rites
The funeral service of Akshay Singh is held at Nigambodh Ghat in Delhi at 2 PM.
He was brought to Delhi today.
Congress VP, Rahul Gandhi, reached the spot to pay homage to the deceased journalist.
Digvijay Singh and Ajay Maken of Congress also attended the funeral.
Satish Upadhyay of the BJP along with Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia of AAP will also pay respects to the deceased journalist.
The viscera report of Akshay Singh’s death was, if not another post-mortem, was demanded to be sent and checked by AIIMS hospital in Delhi.
His sister wrote to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, requesting the report to be sent to AIIMS.
According to India Today reports, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has agreed to sent the viscera report to AIIMS in Delhi.
The result of the examination of viscera reports are awaited.
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