Bhopal: Anand Rai, a medical doctor who was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police in Delhi and suspended from his job at Indore’s Lal Hukumchand Hospital last week, has alleged that he has been “targeted” by the state government for his whistleblowing activities.
Rai, an ophthalmic surgeon, is best known for tipping off police in 2009 about the infamous Vyapam scam, which involved allegations of massive cheating and irregularities in admission and recruitment exams conducted by the Madhya Pradesh government’s Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam, professional examination board).
Since then, Rai has maintained a confrontational stance towards the state government, even describing himself as a “whistleblower” in his social media profiles.
His arrest on 7 April this year came in the wake of an FIR filed by MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Laxman Singh Markam.
The FIR, which included allegations of defamation, criminal intimidation, and using words derogatory to the SC/ST community, came after Rai and state Congress spokesperson K.K. Mishra posted on social media on 26 March about the paper leak of the 2022 MP Teacher’s Eligibility Test (TET).
Rai mentioned the name of a “Laxman Singh” who should be investigated, without saying it was the OSD, while Mishra made a direct allegation about Markam’s possible involvement.
Speaking to ThePrint, Rai said the state government’s “machinery” was “targeting” him for his work and “harassing” him and his family. The hospital, too, he said, was part of this campaign since he was allegedly suspended within hours of applying for medical leave on 29 March.
According to Rai, he was suddenly arrested on the night of 7 April from a New Delhi hotel even though he had been served a notice to appear before the police next day, on 8 April.
He also said that it was questionable that his co-accused K.K. Mishra was not arrested and merely served a notice under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to appear before a police officer. According to Rai, he was in Delhi for medical treatment.
The doctor was granted bail on 9 April by the special SC/ST court in Bhopal and was released on a bond of Rs 50,000.
On Monday, the Supreme Court turned down Rai’s petition against an earlier MP High Court order that refused to quash the FIR against him. The apex court, however, granted Rai the liberty to challenge the HC order under Section 482 of the CrPC if a chargesheet was filed in the case.
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2 accused in FIR, but arrest for only 1
On 26 March, Rai took to social media to post screenshots of the leaked MP TET paper and alleged that the photo of the paper was sent to students — ostensibly to help them cheat — by one “Laxman Singh” and that a CBI inquiry should be conducted into the matter.
Congress leader K.K. Mishra followed suit by issuing a statement on social media, asking how the 35-page question paper reached the mobile phone of the CM’s OSD and demanded that an investigation be conducted by seizing his mobile.
The next day, the CM’s OSD Laxman Singh filed a complaint with the police. Both Rai and Mishra were named in the FIR, filed under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)— including sections 419 (cheating by personation), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 470 (forged document), 500 (defamation), 504 (criminal intimidation), 120 b (punishment for criminal conspiracy) — and under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Rai responded by tweeting that he would not be afraid of a “false FIR” and would continue to raise his voice against scams.
मैं झूठी FIR से डरने वाला नही हूँ, बेरोजगारों की आवाज उठाता रहूँगा, घोटाले उजागर करता रहूंगा,एट्रोसिटी एक्ट के Misuse का अप्रतिम उदाहरण है @CMMadhyaPradesh @BhimArmyChief @VTankha @digvijaya_28 @OfficeOfKNath @KapilSibal @ANTIMMUZALDA @ashish2612 @aajtak @DainikBhaskar
— Office Of Dr Anand Rai (@anandrai177) March 27, 2022
Meanwhile, Mishra was given was a 41a CrPC notice by the police and hence not arrested in the matter, leading to Rai questioning the harsher treatment meted out to him.
“I was arrested, but Mishra wasn’t. Why? Because I have been a whistleblower. I didn’t even say that Laxman Singh is the CM’s OSD — I just asked who he is. Why was I not given 41a CrPC?” Rai said.
Mishra, however, has said that his statement came only after the same allegations had already been shared widely on social media.
“Even before the Vyapam case, [Chief Minister] Chouhan’s former personal secretary Premchand Prasad’s name had come up. The screenshots have the name Laxman Singh, so I released an official statement,” Mishra said.
Asked about this, DCP (crime branch) Amit Kumar said it was up to the investigating officer’s discretion who is served 41a. “In this case, Rai is the creator of the post, Mishra had shared it,” he said.
According to him, Mishra had presented himself before the police on 1 April and had recorded his statement and “cooperated”.
Rai’s ‘early’ arrest
On 2 April, Rai gave a statement, a copy of which is with ThePrint, to the police, stating that he was “willing to be present on 29 March”, but couldn’t due to health issues. He also mentioned that he had challenged the FIR in the MP High Court, and that he has was being targeted by the CM and the OSD. In the statement, Rai said he was willing to “cooperate” in the case.
On 5 April, Rai left for Delhi for “medical treatment”.
“They arrested me on 7 April, after serving me a notice to be present on 8 April at 11 am,” Rai said, adding that he had already booked his tickets from Delhi to Bhopal for 9 April morning.
According to DCP Kumar, the arrest was warranted.
“The police are empowered to arrest, if there are chances of the accused absconding and not cooperating with the investigation, even after a notice is issued for appearance on a different date,” he said.
The DCP added that Rai had been served a total of three notices and had refused to submit his phone to the police when asked to do so.
“He cannot be present before the police as per his will and expect the investigation to be conducted accordingly,” Kumar said, pointing out that there are eight cases against Rai, including under the Arms Act.
Vaibhav Srivastava, advocate on record, alleged that Rai was being “targeted and harassed by the state government for being a whistleblower” and was being defamed.
“Just because the complainant is an OSD in the CM’s office, Rai is being hounded by the police… The Facebook post only called for CBI probe in the paper leak,” Srivastava said, adding that the complaints listed in the FIR against the doctor were baseless.
Rai said his tangles with the law seem to be only increasing. On the day he got bail, he said he received information that the Manpur police (Indore) were after him. The case is from a protest about an environmental issue in July 2021 where the police had initially lodged an FIR against 500-600 unidentified people. “The police have woken up suddenly. Initially my name wasn’t there, now suddenly it is,” he said.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior police officer said: “We screened videos and footage. He was found as accused during the investigation. We were only looking to serve him a notice and not arrest, because the offence here warrants less than seven years’ sentencing.”
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Suspension by medical board also ‘harassment’, Rai says
Rai has alleged that he was suspended from his job by a medical board for spurious reasons as part of the “targeted harassment” campaign against him.
The doctor said he had applied for medical leave of five days, from 29 March to 2 April, after experiencing “renal colic” — sharp, intense pain caused by kidney dysfunction. According to him, he submitted a “medical certificate by a highly experienced doctor of a superficiality hospital in Indore” to support his application.
However, this application was allegedly put on hold by authorities at Hukumchand hospital on 29 March.
“Just hours after cancelling my leave, they formed a medical board and issued a notice for me to appear at 5pm. I was out doing sonography and urine tests etc. The notice was received by my wife and I came to know about it only at 7pm,” Rai said, adding that the board did not wait to record his statement.
Rai claimed that he visited the National Heart Institute in Delhi on 31 March for further tests and returned on 2 April, when he went to the police.
On 4 April, he submitted a written statement to the civil surgeon, a copy of which ThePrint has seen, requesting that his medical leave be converted to casual leave. He also protested that the board was formed within three hours of him submitting his medical certificate, which he dubbed “unconstitutional”. On 5 April, Rai said that he went to Delhi again for follow-up treatment and to complete legal formalities regarding his special leave petition in the top court.
However, a senior doctor privy to the matter, said text messages were sent to Rai to be present from 5-7pm and he only later replied that he was out doing medical tests.
The suspension order notes that Rai violated the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services Conduct Rules 1965 through unauthorised absence from duty, and that he was found absent by the deputy director of health services at noon on 29 March even though the register had him marked present.
Upon enquiry, it was found that he had given a leave application to the civil surgeon, the suspension order, accessed by ThePrint, said.
The order said Rai had been sharing “negative and objectionable posts” against the government and officials on social media, adding that he hadn’t informed the department about the FIR against him. Moreover, the order alleged, from 18 February to 15 March, Rai was only present for 18 days.
Rai has now been attached to the regional director, health services, Rewa. “They could have sent me anywhere here, nearby, but instead are sending me 600 km away, near the UP border,” he said, adding he will challenge his suspension.
Congress takes up cudgels
The Congress in MP has made clear its intentions of making the MP TET paper leak one of its poll issues in the 2023 assembly elections. Now, a new element has been added to this: allegations of harassment of detractors.
Congress MLA and state working president of the party Jitu Patwari told ThePrint that the government functioned like a “dictatorship” and that those who questioned it were “intimidated and subjugated” using the law.
“We will bring this up in the Vidhan Sabha and take the protest to every street,” Patwari said, adding that the SC/ST Act had been misused in the case. “If the public questions the government, they will hit back saying that we are being questioned because of our caste,” the Congress leader said.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dr Durgesh Keswani, BJP state spokesperson, said that the party was committed to ensuring justice.
Asked about the allegations of harassment, he added, “If anyone does anything against law, no matter how big a person he is or his influence, he won’t be spared in this government.”
All cases pertaining to the multi-crore Vyapam scam — which came to the attention of the police in 2009 but made news when the first arrests were made in 2013 — have been transferred to the CBI. The Supreme Court had in 2015 ordered the transfer of about 185 multi-crore Vyapam scam cases — involving politicians, businessmen, and other senior officials — to the investigating agency. A total of 650 people have been chargesheeted so far.
This article has been updated to reflect a minor change in advocate Vaibhav Srivastava’s quote.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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