Rajnish Rai was a
Deputy inspector general of police
A Deputy Inspector General of Police (abbreviated as DIG) is a high-ranking official position in Police in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
India
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) is a rank i ...
for the
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Raj.
Along with the Indian Administ ...
. He began service after graduating with the 1992 cadre.
In 2019 he joined the
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) is the world's number 1 business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The school has been accorded the status of an Institute of National Importance by Ministry of Human Resour ...
as an assistant professor.
Rai is known for arresting fellow police officers
D G Vanzara
Dahyaji Gobarji Vanzara, popularly known as D. G. Vanzara, is the former Inspector-General of Police (IG) from Gujarat, India. He was in judicial custody from 2007 until his bail in 2015 on charges of having conducted a series of extrajudicia ...
,
R K Pandian
Rajkumar Pandian (RK Pandian) is an Indian Police Service officer. He came to attention over claims in the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. From 2016 he was Inspector-general of police in Junagadh, even while the Sohrabuddin case was in courts. In ...
, and
Dinesh M N
Munganahalli Narayanaswamy Dinesh is an Indian Police Service officer from Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage o ...
in connection with the 2005
death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh
The Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case was a criminal case in the Gujarat state after the death of Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh on November 26, 2005. A special CBI court acquitted all the 22 accused in the case in the alleged encounter kill ...
.
These early claims put Rai in conflict with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...
's government.
Later Rai would have conflicts with the government, including for his claims of corruption in the
Jaduguda uranium mine
The Jaduguda Mine (also spelt as Jadugoda or Jadugora) is a uranium mine in Jaduguda village in the Purbi Singhbhum district of the Indian state of Jharkhand. It commenced operation in 1967 and was the first uranium mine in India. The deposi ...
, army killings of members of the
National Democratic Front of Boroland
The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) was an armed separatist outfit which sought to obtain a sovereign Bodoland, Boroland for the Bodo people. It is designated as a List of organisations banned by the Government of India, terrorist ...
, for accusing the government of harassing him, and for seeking early retirement from government service.
Investigation of death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh
Rai took orders from the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India (IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
to probe the 2005
death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh
The Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case was a criminal case in the Gujarat state after the death of Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh on November 26, 2005. A special CBI court acquitted all the 22 accused in the case in the alleged encounter kill ...
. On 27 April 2007 his investigation led to him arresting three
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Raj.
Along with the Indian Administ ...
officers,
D G Vanzara
Dahyaji Gobarji Vanzara, popularly known as D. G. Vanzara, is the former Inspector-General of Police (IG) from Gujarat, India. He was in judicial custody from 2007 until his bail in 2015 on charges of having conducted a series of extrajudicia ...
,
R K Pandian
Rajkumar Pandian (RK Pandian) is an Indian Police Service officer. He came to attention over claims in the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. From 2016 he was Inspector-general of police in Junagadh, even while the Sohrabuddin case was in courts. In ...
, and
Dinesh M N
Munganahalli Narayanaswamy Dinesh is an Indian Police Service officer from Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage o ...
.
When he made these arrests he did so without the permission of Gujarat home minister Amit Shah.
Following the arrests the state took Rai off the case and returned it to
Geetha Johri, who had originally investigated it.
The supposed motivations for the
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
to support the police officers involved in the killings was that these police were Gujarati in the home state of high ranking politicians, and that the killed people were said to be terrorists, and the party's image benefited from eliminating terrorism.
The three officers whom Rai arrested were said to be close to politician
Amit Shah
Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Jana ...
and also involved in the
death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh
The Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case was a criminal case in the Gujarat state after the death of Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh on November 26, 2005. A special CBI court acquitted all the 22 accused in the case in the alleged encounter kill ...
, the
Ishrat Jahan case
The Ishrat Jahan case is an ongoing case where officers of the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch and members of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of Ahmedabad are accused of fatally shooting four people unlawfully on 15 June 2004 in an "enc ...
, and the
Tulsiram Prajapati killing
Tulsiram Prajapati was a man, who was killed while in custody at 5 am on 26 December 2005. The case is widely believed to have been an encounter killing by the Gujarat Police. DIG D.G. Vanzara has been in jail for seven years, on charges of havi ...
.
In arresting these police officers Rai came into conflict with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...
's BJP government.
Before Tulsiram was killed, Rai reported his statement that he feared that police would kill him in a fake encounter.
Claim of corruption in uranium mining
In April 2015 the government gave Rai a new posting to the
Central Reserve Police Force
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police F ...
. In this role he was to move to
Jadugora
Jadugora (also spelt as Jadugoda or Jaduguda) is a census town in the Musabani CD block in the Ghatshila subdivision of the Purbi Singhbhum district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.
Etymology
The name "Jadugora" or "Jadugoda" has been derived ...
, a remote location were the
Uranium Corporation of India
Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) is a public sector undertaking (PSU), under the Department of Atomic Energy for uranium mining and processing. The corporation was founded in 1967 and is responsible for the mining and milling of uranium ore in ...
operates the
Jaduguda uranium mine
The Jaduguda Mine (also spelt as Jadugoda or Jadugora) is a uranium mine in Jaduguda village in the Purbi Singhbhum district of the Indian state of Jharkhand. It commenced operation in 1967 and was the first uranium mine in India. The deposi ...
.
Rai complained of the remoteness of the transfer, saying that it would separate him from his family.
Rai also claimed that this posting was a government punishment due to his role in arresting other police officers in the
death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh
The Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case was a criminal case in the Gujarat state after the death of Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh on November 26, 2005. A special CBI court acquitted all the 22 accused in the case in the alleged encounter kill ...
.
His role in this post was as chief vigilance officer in accord with
Central Vigilance Commission
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is an apex Indian governmental body created in 1964 to address governmental corruption. In 2003, the Parliament enacted a law conferring statutory status on the CVC. It has the status of an autonomous body, f ...
guidelines.
In this role Rai made claims of massive corruption amounting to theft of
crores
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is ...
of rupees.
Rai's report claimed corruption in awarding the government contract to conduct uranium mining.
The nature of corruption was dismissing lower bids from eligible contractors due to technicalities in completing a form, while overlooking comparable errors in the form of the selected contractor's significantly higher bid.
Overall, Rai wanted investigation of various contracts over 2008-2015 and amounting to Rs 970 crore.
He also reported that the Indian army including the
Sashastra Seema Bal
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB; ) is a border guarding force of India deployed along its borders with Nepal and Bhutan. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The f ...
had killed two members of the
National Democratic Front of Boroland
The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) was an armed separatist outfit which sought to obtain a sovereign Bodoland, Boroland for the Bodo people. It is designated as a List of organisations banned by the Government of India, terrorist ...
in a fake
police encounter
A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only inv ...
.
The killing happened on 30 March, and Rai documented the investigation on 17 April.
In his report, Rai claimed that multiple government agencies coordinated to perform the killing.
In June 2017 the government transferred Rai to another post with immediate effect and the unusual order that he need not give any orientation to the person replacing him at his post.
When he reported these things to the Ranchi office of the
Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governme ...
, the Home Ministry issued a criminal
chargesheet
In policing on the Indian subcontinent, a chargesheet is prepared after First Information Reports (FIRs), and charges an individual for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those FIR(s).
Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court ...
against him which included accusations that he incorrectly or inappropriately conducted the investigation.
The chargesheet also had the effect of making Rai ineligible for an anticipated promotion.
Leaving civil service
Rahul Sharma, a former police officer turned civil rights lawyer, has represented Rai in his complaints about harassment following his whistleblower activity.
Rai claimed that academic test observers harassed him with cheating accusations while he sought his
undergraduate law degree.
The
Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State.
The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. The pres ...
considered the cheating allegations and reported finding no evidence to support them.
Later when Rai sought employment at the
Indian Institute of Management Udaipur
The Indian Institute of Management Udaipur, also known as IIM Udaipur, is a graduate business school in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. Established as an autonomous body in 2011, the institute offers a two-year full-time MBA program, one-year postgra ...
he instead received a transfer to faraway
Shillong
Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a p ...
.
In August 2018 Rai attempted to retire from the police service.
After submitting his 3-month notice to retire, the
Ministry of Home Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministr ...
rejected his request.
Rai claims that he left his post three months after giving notice to retire, while the government claims that Rai abandoned his post.
After Rai quit coming to work, he got a suspension.
The ministry also ordered him to leave his home to relocate to
Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh
Chittoor is a city and district headquarters in Chittoor district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is also the mandal and divisional headquarters of Chittoor mandal and Chittoor revenue division, respectively. The city has a popul ...
during his suspension.
His lawyer Sharma has argued that people can choose to retire, and that after his 3-month notice, he is retired and the government cannot suspend him.
Had Rai not sought early retirement from the civil service, his expected year of retirement would have been 2025.
Following his leave from government service Rai joined the
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) is the world's number 1 business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The school has been accorded the status of an Institute of National Importance by Ministry of Human Resour ...
as an assistant professor.
The
Ministry of Home Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministr ...
requested that this school not appoint Rai while he is suspended, but the
Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
replied by saying that the school is autonomous and manages itself.
Recognition
''
The Statesman'' praised Rai along with
Sanjiv Bhatt
Sanjiv Bhatt is a former Indian Police Service officer of the Gujarat-cadre. He is known for his role in filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India against the then Chief Minister of the Government of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, concerning Mo ...
and
Rahul Sharma as being among the senior IPS officers who had been defending the constitutional rights and law since the
2002 Gujarat riots
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hin ...
.
''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...
'' praised Rai for his courage in as a
whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
in the encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Sohra's wife, Tulsiram, and the NDFB members.
References
{{reflist
Living people
Indian police officers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Indian whistleblowers