The perceived death toll in the Vyapam scam has reportedly touched 49. The media and opposition parties have gone after the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh after the long trail of mysterious deaths came to the fore, and particularly after a journalist’s death on Saturday while investigating the scam.Vyapam is the acronym for the the Madhya Pradesh Vyavasayik Pariksha Mandal, also known as the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB). The body is responsible for conducting entrance exams for professional courses like the pre-medical examination.Complaints of irregularities while conducting the examinations first surfaced in 2001, audit report findings in 2007 pointed to a nexus, and the scam blew over in 2013.Before we give you the exhaustive list, here are some elements we noticed, which are intriguing.1. Three middlemen died in June 2010 and all in road accidents in Raisen.2. Most of the people who were either accused or witnesses in the cover-up have succumbed to alcohol-related-illnesses (3), suicides (7) or road accidents (11).3. Ten middlemen have died in road accidents from 2010.While it cannot be ascertained that all the following deaths came about as a result of their involvement in the scam, here is the list of people associated with Vyapam who have died:1) Vikas Singh Thakur: Considered to be a middle-man in the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) scam, his death reportedly occurred due to an illness following an adverse drug reaction. He died in Barwani, MP, in November 2009.2) Shyamvir Yadav: Another middle-man in the PMT scam, Yadav reportedly died in a road-accident in Raisen, MP, on June 12, 2010.3) Anshul Sachan: 24-year-old Sachan joined Sagar Medical College as an MBBS student in 2009. Accused by the police of being a middleman in the PMT scam, he died in an accident on June 14, 2010 while returning to Sagar from Bhopal when his car crashed into a truck near Raisen. His father was reportedly unaware of his son’s name being involved in the scam, and questioned the timing of his son’s death, and said he believed his son and others were drunk.4) Anuj Uikey: Another middleman in the PMT scam, he reportedly died in a road mishap in Raisen on June 14, 2010.5) Gyan Singh Jatav: 29-year-old Jatav was a medical student who had 8 cases registered against him for his involvement as a middle man in the PMT scam. He reportedly died on October 26, 2010 due to liver and kidney failure. According to his estranged wife, he was an excessive drinker and probably died due to his addiction.6) Deepak Verma: A middleman in the PMT scam, he reportedly died in a road accident in Indore in 2010.7) Namrata Damor: One of the cases which has been in the limelight. Damor was a 19-year-old medical student who secured admission illegally. The police filed a case of suicide after her death in January 2012. One of the doctors who conducted her autopsy has now come out and said that it was a case of murder and that the autopsy report said “violent asphyxia as a result of smothering”.8) Aditya Chaudhary: Chaudhary who also went by the alias “Ravi Pippal” was another middle man in the PMT scam. He reportedly committed suicide in Sagar, MP, in October 2012.9) Anant Ram Tagore: 71-year-old Tagore was accused of using the subverted system to get his son Jagdish a job with the Railway Protection Force (RPF). He reportedly died on November 7, 2012 due to cancer, his wife saying that “The shock of witnessing his son’s career going bad killed him.”10) Arvind Shakya: A middle-man in the PMT scam,a road accident reportedly claimed his life in Gwalior during November 2012.11) Pramod Sharma: All of 22, Sharma had headed to Gwalior from his hometown of Ambah in 2008 after completing his school education. His body was reportedly found on April 21, 2013 under a ceiling fan and the police registered a case of suicide. His brother has alleged foul play and said that the ceiling fan had no signs of a rope being tied to it. I saw blood coming out of his ears and mouth, nail marks on his forehead and swelling in the head. It definitely did not look like suicide,” said Sharma.12) Kuldeep Marawi : Marawi was believed to be another middle man in the PMT scam. He reportedly died in Mandla on May 12, 2013 following a road accident.13) Premlata Pandey: A student and resident of Nehrunagar in Bhopal, she was an accused in the Contract Teacher’s scam. She reportedly succumbed to liver cancer on May 17, 201314) Ashutosh Tiwari: A middle man in the PMT scam, Tiwari reportedly died to an alcohol-related illness in Tikamgarh on August 10, 2013.15) Tarun Macchar: 19-year-old Macchar was a student at the Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal. He was accused by the police of getting someone else to answer his PMT test in 2013. Macchar reportedly died on September 15, 2013. The police say he was riding the bike with a friend on pillion, a claim which is father has contested but he ruled out any suspicious reasons for the accident. His mother was not so sure. 16) Anand Singh Yadav: Another middle man in the PMT scam, he reportedly died in a road accident at Raisen in October 2013.17) Devendra Nagar: The family of this 29-year-old who was accused of being a middle man in the recruitment of police constables was reportedly evasive about the charges against him. He died in a motorcycle accident on December 26, 2013. Asked if they suspected anything, his family says, “We don’t know, the police should tell us.”18) Bunty Sikarwar: Accused of being a middle man in the Vyapam scam, the 32-year-old Sikarwar committed suicide on January 21, 2014 at his ancestral home in Gwalior. “Even if (his involvement in the scam) that is true, how big could his crime be that he had to suddenly kill himself?” his wife asks.19) Deepak Jain: Accused of being a middle man in the PMT scam, he reportedly died in a road accident in Gwalior on February 1, 2014.20) Dinesh Jatav: Another accused as a middle man in the PMT scam, 28-year-old Jatav worked as a security guard in Morena. He died in a road accident on February 14, 2014 after a four-wheeler hit him. “It was raining that day. So probably the driver lost control, but the police should investigate,” his mother-in-law said. 21) Vikas Pandey: Accused of being a middle man in the PMT scam, he reportedly died of a brain hemorrhage in Allahabad on April 20, 2014.22) Ravindra Pratap Singh: Singh was a student accused in the PMT scam. He reportedly died of suspected poisoning in Singrauli on June 15, 2014.23) Dr. DK Sakalley: The then dean of Jabalpur medical college reportedly committed suicide by immolating himself in a garden behind his house. Sources told the TOI that the dean was on a 30-day medical leave to avoid pressure from students who had been sacked in connection with the scam. The police however did not register a case of suicide as his death occurred in mysterious circumstances. 24) Narendra Rajput: Accused of being a middle man in the PMT scam, Rajput reportedly died of an illness in Jhansi on July 13, 2014.25) Lalit Golaria: Golaria was a student accused in the PMT scam. His body was reportedly found under a bridge in Morena in January 2015.26) Ramendra Singh Bhadoria: A student of the 2007 batch at Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, he was accused of clearing the PMT examination by using unfair means and terminated in 2009. Bhadoria’s body was found hanging at his home in Gwalior on January 15, 2015. His family claims that he was being harassed by MPPEB officials who were asking him to keep mum.27) Amit Sagar: The veterinary student in Mhow was found dead near a pond in Sheopur in February 2015. Sagar had been implicated in the scam by one of the prime accused in the case, but when the police tried to locate him they discovered he was already dead.28) Sanjay Singh Yadav: 35-year-old Yadav is believed to have died on February 8, 2015 of a serious illness at a private hospital in Bhopal. Yadav was a witness in the constable recruitment scam and the STF officials informed the court of his death on Wednesday. 29) Shailesh Yadav: The 50-year-old Yadav was the son of MP’s governor and Congress leader Ram Krishna Yadav. Accused of fixing appointments of close to ten teachers, Yadav was reportedly found dead at the governor’s official residence on March 25, 2015. The family does not allege anything suspicious surrounding his death, which was reportedly due to a brain hemorrhage, but his autopsy was inconclusive. 30) Vijay Singh Patel: Patel was a pharmacist whose name figured as the accused in two cases pertaining to the scam. He was reportedly found dead at a BJP MLA’s lodge at Kanker on April 28, 2015. Poison was found in his body after the post-mortem but his family have alleged that he was killed for his part in a larger conspiracy.31) Narendra Singh Tomar: Tomar’s name was associated with the Vyapam scam after he was accused in 2009 of aiding candidates by arranging impostors. The Assistant Veterinary Officer at Raisen reportedly died after a heart-attack on June 28, 2015. The family has refuted the cause of death. “He was normal and did not complain of any discomfort,” his younger brother Vikram Singh said.32) Rajendra Arya: The 40-year-old was an assistant professor at the Sagar Medical College. He had been arrested in May 2014 for helping students “fix” their examinations. He died on June 28, 2015, two days after he was admitted to the hospital after complaining of fever, body ache and vomiting. Arya reportedly died due to a liver infection but his son says he was a “normal healthy person”.33) Akshay Singh: The 38-year-old reporter for Aaj Tak was covering the Vyapam scam and had interviewed Namrata Damor’s family hours prior to his death on July 4, 2015. His autopsy suggested that his cause of death was natural, but foul pay had been suspected.34) Dr Arun Sharma: The dean of Jabalpur Medical College who replaced Dr. Sakalley was providing the STF with information regarding the scam. He was found dead in his hotel room in Delhi on July 5, 2015. The police reportedly found whiskey and some medicines near his bed. 35) Anamika Kushwaha: The trainee sub-inspector who had been recruited through Vyapam in 2014 was found dead in a lake in the Sagar district of MP on July 6, 2015. While the Congress party says that her death was related to the Vyapam scam, her father has claimed that she was being harassed by her in-laws for money.36) Ramakant Pandey: Pandey was a police constable who had been questioned by the STF as a suspect in the case weeks prior to his death. The 35-year-old’s body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in Tikamgarh on July 6, 2015. While no suicide note was recovered, the SP said Pandey was a debt-ridden alcoholic who was depressed.The following are names of people who were mentioned in the SIT report, but no details are known in public domain.37) Anand Singh (Barwani)38) Anuj Pandey39) Brijesh Rajput (Barwani)40) Gyan Singh (Sagar)41) Manish Kumar Samadhia (Jhansi)42) Pashupati Nath / Lalit Kumar Pashupatinath Jaiswal43) Vikram SinghOne of the whistleblowers in the case, Anand Rai had told Economic Times that he believes around 10 deaths happened in suspicious circumstances while others may be a matter of coincidence. "I do not know about the rest who died but 10 of these, including journalist Akshay Singh, Namarata Damor and Narendra Tomar, have died in very suspicious circumstances," Rai told ET.He also included D K Sakkale, former Dean of Jabalpur NSM college, four middlemen who died in a road accident and Dr Rajendra Arya in his list.