MP governor booked in recruitment scam, asked to resign
25 Feb 2015
The centre has asked Madhya Pradesh governor Ramnaresh Yadav to quit after he was booked in the multi-layered examination and recruitment scam.
The union home ministry is reported to have sent a communication to Yadav seeking his resignation.
Union home ministry officials confirmed that Yadav had been asked to quit and was expected to put in his papers by the end of the day. They also said that the ministry could take steps for his removal if he did not resign on his own.
A special task force (STF) of the Madhya Pradesh police, which is investigating Professional Examination Board (PEB) Forest Guard recruitment scam, on Tuesday registered a first information report (FIR) against Yadav and 100 others over alleged irregularities in a 2013 recruitment test for forest guards.
The governor, by far the biggest name in the scam, was charged with recommending the names of three candidates for recruitment after allegedly taking Rs4 lakh from each of them, officials said.
Eighty-six candidates in the examination are also among the accused.
The STF is investigating allegations that included the rigging of several recruitment and entrance tests conducted by the state government's PEB in 2012 and 2013.
Police have questioned 1,800 people so far after the scam first emerged in July 2013.
Yadav is left with little choice than to resign, sources said, adding that there was no official word on the latest developments in the professional examination board (PEB) scam.
The MPPEB scam is a massive admission and recruitment scandal involving politicians and some senior and influential state government officials. The governor's role had come under the scanner after the arrest of his officer on special duty Dhanraj Yadav in MPPEB's Pre-Medical Test.
The governor's son Shailesh Yadav's name had also cropped up during the investigation when an accused alleged he was paid money for recruitment of contractual teachers.
Ramnaresh Yadav, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, was appointed MP governor by the UPA government in 2011 and his term was set to end in September 2016.
