New Delhi:  The dean of a medical college in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh was found dead this morning at a hotel in Delhi where he had arrived yesterday.

The college Dr Arun Sharma headed was linked to the Vyapam recruitment scam which has engulfed top officials in Madhya Pradesh and is hinged on politicians and bureaucrats allegedly accepting kickbacks in exchange for allowing imposters to take the recruitment exam for government jobs and admission to colleges.

The dean who was found dead in Delhi today was chief of a committee investigating how that conspiracy was executed in the state-run medical college that he headed. He was assisting the Special Task Force that is probing Vyapam scam, by providing documents on fake medical entrance examinees.

Police sources said whiskey and some medicines were found near his bed. They said a post-mortem will be conducted after his son arrives in the capital.

At least 26 people who were either witnesses or accused in the scam have died over the last five years, leading to a demand for a CBI inquiry by the opposition. A journalist who worked for the India Today Group and was reporting on the scam died yesterday.