India's Supreme Court has ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into a "multimillion-dollar college admission and government job recruitment scandal" that has left close to 50 involved dead from mysterious circumstances, The Associated Press reports. Known as the "Vyapam scam," hundreds of parents and students in Madhya Pradesh state have been arrested for paying bribes or hiring proxies to take qualifying exams for top colleges and jobs as government teachers, doctors, bankers, and policemen. More than 2,500 have been accused in connection with the scam and 1,900 of that number have been arrested, according to NPR.
Nearly 50 witnesses or participants in the scam have died over the past five years. Last week, an investigative journalist who was interviewing witnesses in Madhya Pradesh died and the next day, the dean of a medical college was found dead in a hotel room. Many of the deaths have been ruled inconclusive in autopsies, with the home minister of the state claiming the deaths are due to "natural causes," despite many of the dead being under 40.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influenceSpeed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreadsSpeed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozensSpeed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study findsSpeed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cowsSpeed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study findsSpeed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addictionSpeed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
