Dr Anand Rai, who exposed Vyapam scam, arrested for defamation. He moves SC

BHOPAL: Dr Anand Rai, the Madhya Pradesh doctor who blew the whle on the admission and recruitment racket widely known as the Vyapam scam, has been arrested from a Delhi hotel late on Thursday night on charges of falsely alleging that an official in the chief miner’s office was involved in the alleged paper leak of MP Teachers’ Eligibility Test.A team of MP’s crime branch made the arrest in Delhi and was taken to Bhopal where he was produced before a judge. Dr Rai, who was posted at a health centre in Indre, was also suspended.Dr Rai’s legal team later moved the Supreme Court, which in 2015 ordered a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam, to seek relief. The top court is expected to hear his petition on Monday.The case against Dr Rai was regered on a complaint Lakshman Singh Markam, an officer on special duty in the chief miner’s office, who alleged that Dr Rai and Congress spokesperson KK Mishra manipulated content from Facebook. “They used words derogatory to the SC/ST community and posted it on a public platform to defame him,” said Markam in the complaint. Crime branch deputy commissioner of police, Bhopal, Amit Kumar said Dr Anand Rai and Congress spokesperson KK Mishra were named in the FIR regered on March 27 under sections 419 (cheating personation), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 470 (forged document), 500 (defamation), 504 (criminal intimidation), 120 b (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. In addition, police have also invoked the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.A candidate who appeared for a recruitment exam to hire teachers claimed on social media that when he was returning home, he met an agent from Dholpur who showed him a screenshot of the paper that was allegedly sent someone the name of Lakshman Singh.On March 26, Dr Rai posted some screenshots of the question paper of MPTET with a caption that the screenshot was taken one “Lakshman Singh”, demanding a CBI inquiry into the identity of this “Lakshman Singh.” A similar post was also made Congress spokesperson KK Mishra. Chief miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s OSD Lakshman Singh filed a police complaint the following day.Congress spokesperson KK Mishra, who appeared before the police on April 1, said he had just shared the widely-circulated posts and didn’t fabricate the screenshots.Dr Rai approached the high court against the FIR. The high court initially barred the police from arresting him but lifted this restriction on April 4.Rai told HT that he is moving the Supreme Court because he is being targeted unnecessarily.“I was posted at a government hospital in Indore and I was suspended the health department. My wife who is a government doctor is also being targeted the state government. I have been fighting against corruption and irregularities in holding exams Vyapam for the past 10 years. I will keep fighting for unemployed youth. I fiercely exposed Vyapam Scam and now this TET scam,” he added. Lakshman Singh Markam couldn’t be contacted for his comments.But MP’s medical education miner Vishwas Sarang defended the arrest. “The right action was taken against him. He is a government employee and instead of performing his duty, he is busy making fake claims and charges. The adminration and police are working as per rule.” School education miner Inder Singh Parmar said, “Some blackmailers and Congress leaders hatched a conspiracy to defame the exam and they are being punished for that. The state government ordered an inquiry into the matter and as of now, it is not proven who and when the screenshots were taken. This is confirmed that the paper was not leaked and inquiry is still going on.” Congress former state president Arun Yadav condemned the arrest. He said, “Shivrajji has now become a dictator because journals cannot speak the truth and a whle-blower cannot speak on scams. Shivraj ji, stop killing democracy, the arrest of Anand Rai is a conspiracy to suppress the Vyapam scam.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

She is a senior reporter based at Bhopal. She covers higher education, social issues, youth affairs, woman and child development related issues, sports and business & industries.
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