Rinku Singh Rahi

Last updated

Rinku Singh Rahi (born 1982) is an Indian whistleblower and PCS officer fighting against corruption in sponsored welfare schemes in Uttar Pradesh (UP). He was shot six times by local gangsters, damaging his jaw and the vision of one eye, for exposing corruption. [1]

Contents

Background

Rinku Singh Rahi has been fighting corruption in his own department and state-run schemes since 2009. He was denied access to information on his own department. Instead, an attempt on his life was made allegedly at the behest of Principal Secretary Navtej Singh, and other department officials during the Mayawati government. He started a hunger strike in Lucknow hoping the Akhilesh Yadav government would pay heed to his demands for a reply on his pending RTI application; a criminal investigationinto the corruptions charges; and act against miscreants but instead was admitted to a psychiatric ward. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Life and early career

He was born at Aligarh in a lower middle-class family on 20 May 1982. He did his elementary schooling in Aligarh and completed his BTech degree in Metallurgy at NIT, Jamshedpur in 2002. In the same year, he scored All India 17th rank in GATE that assured him a seat in his desired stream at any top technological institute. He opted for a civil service career instead. In pursuit of his objective, he undertook various civil services examinations/interviews. Having passed the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Civil Services examination in 2004, he was posted as District social welfare officer at Muzaffarnagar in 2008.

He showed interest in social development from his early years and took initiative in establishing a "Library" and "Adult education center" at Aligarh. He was then posted as a coordinater at the state-run coaching institute for IAS and IPS aspirants from the Dalit community at Aligarh.

As of 2012 he is posted in Badhohi constituency of Sant Ravidas Nagar district as a social welfare officer.

Muzaffarnagar welfare fund corruption scandal

The social welfare department at Muzaffarnagar distributed over 40 crore (US$8.26 million) annually to beneficiaries under various state-run welfare schemes. Rahi ordered an inquiry into the allocation of funds over the last five years, soon after he arrived. [1] [4] He found serious discrepancies:

Rahi complained to his seniors and also informed Bhuvneesh Kumar, a District Magistrate of Muzaffaranagar, about the irregularities. Kumar said that a few days before the attack Rahi had told him of the irregularities, and had planned to computerise a record of what he had discovered, but he could do that, he was attacked. [8]

RTI request

Rinku Singh filed a Right to Information (RTI) application on 28 November 2007, but never received a reply within the mandatory period of 30 days. He followed up by filing a complaint at Central Information Commission (CIC) under section 18 of the commission. CIC issued a notice to Public Information Officer (PIO) for explanation and demanded he supply the information within the mandated time. PIO replied to CIC on 2 February 2009. CIC then directed PIO to provide the information on two of five queries. CIC rejected the remaining three queries, claiming they did not fall within the definition of "Information" as defined in the RTI Act. [9]

Armed attack

After Rahi's complaints, armed miscreants shot him six time when he was playing badminton on the morning of 26 March 2009. His jaw was severely damaged and he lost the vision of one eye, but survived. [1] [4] [5] [6] [8] [10]

Police found that the attack was carried out by local gangsters at the behest of welfare department officials. Police arrested nine people, including Mukesh Chaudhary, a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, and Ashok Kashyap, an assistant accountant at the welfare department. According to police, Mukesh Chaudhary was annoyed that Rahi did not sanction scholarships for some students and Ashok Kashyap was annoyed as Rahi had ordered a departmental inquiry into the alleged corruption. [2] [4] [5] [8] [10]

Kumar issued an order to attach the property of Chaudary, who had been enriched by 7 crore (US$1.45 million) over five years. [8]

Inquiry committee

After Rahi was attacked, an inquiry committee was set up under Alka Tandon, director of the social welfare department – Meerut. The committee found no records of funds spent in the last five years by the Social welfare, corroborating Rahi's allegations. The committee also found embezzlement to the tune of 10 crore (US$2.07 million), associated with various welfare schemes in 2009, according to Narendra Kumar Chowdhary, Social welfare department director. The Committee submitted the report with findings that included:

The report also hinted that the local officials of the education department's involvement in the malpractices of Scholarship scheme. The inquiry team found accounting discrepancies to the tune of crores of rupees in almost all the schemes. [8]

Discovery of further corruption

Rahi said that he had information that of around 60 crore (US$12.4 million) to 70 crore (US$14.46 million) that were allocated to Muzaffarnagar's Social welfare department in 2008–09, a large amount was unused. He believed that the reply to the RTI application would expose another scam in the department. [2] [11] Rahi said that he sought to discover where the unused funds went, and filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 to discover who beneficiaries were, but did not receive the full details, and had therefore filed an appeal. [2]

Rahi also said that he had compromised by limiting his request to one year, having been told that details for other years were not available. [2] [11] [12]

Hunger strike and attempted hospitalisation

Speaking at a one-day token fast launched at Jantar Mantar on 25 March 2012 by anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare, Rahi announced that he too would undertake a hunger strike starring 26 March 2012 at Lucknow, in part because his RTI request had been rejected. [2] [5] [7] [10]

Lucknow police, intending to disrupt the protest after midnight, first brought in doctors to check his condition and forcibly evicted him from the protest site. They tried to get him admitted first to a local hospital and then to a psychiatric ward of Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University (CSMMU), but the hospital refused to admit him after neither Rahi nor his family provided consent. [11]

On 28 March 2012, the Government of Uttar Pradesh formed a two-member committee, chaired by the Meerut commissioner, to probe Rahi's allegations. Awadesh Pradesh, the social welfare minister, said that the committee was expected to submit their findings in two months. [13]

Retaliation

Facing criticism and media coverage, he was transferred to his hometown, Aligarh. [1] [3] [4] [10] [12] Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal, criticised the government crackdown on Rahi, saying that Rahi "raised a genuine voice against corruption", accused the ruling party of direct involvement in "corruption, murder and assault", and criticised them for failing to provide protection to Rahi. [4]

Rahi continued to protest in Aligarh. [4] [11] [13] He was given an insignificant position – as a coordinator at the Dr. B.R.Ambedkar IAS PCS Coaching Centre. [14] [15] He said that senior officials of the police department had refused to co-operate with him after he provided them with details of the scam, and that RTI requests had not been honoured. [14] [15]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lucknow: Whistleblower bureaucrat picked up from protest site, taken to psychiatric ward". NDTV. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012. Mr Rahi has been raising the issue of corruption in the state government sponsored schemes ever since his stint as the District Social Welfare Officer in Muzzafarnagar in 2009. He has exposed corruption to the tune of Rs. 40 crore, for which he also suffered an attempt on his life when the local mafia pumped six bullets into him on 26 March 2009 – in that assault, he lost vision in one eye
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Social welfare officer on dharna seeking RTI reply". The Indian Express . 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012. A PCS Officer, Rinku Singh Rahi, who survived a murderous attack in Muzaffarnagar in 2009, is staging dharna in Lucknow demanding reply to his RTI application seeking details of money not used by the Social Welfare Department of Muzaffarnagar district in the year 2008–09.
  3. 1 2 "UP: Whistleblower cop forcibly taken to asylum from protest site". India Today . 27 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012. Rahi had hoped for justice with the change of regime in the state and wanted to meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "After midnight crackdown in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh officer resumes protest fast in Aligarh". NDTV. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012. The new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, already facing complaints hooliganism and violent behavior by his partymen, sure has more to answer after this incident.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Action replay: Another whistleblower termed insane, dumped into asylum". Deccan Chronicle . 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012. A similar scene was enacted here on Monday, just before midnight, when an officer of the allied Provincial State Services was forcibly picked up while he was staging dharna and taken to the psychiatric ward of a medical college in the state capital.
  6. 1 2 "Fasting official mentally unstable, says UP govt". Deccan Herald . 27 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012. Apparently perturbed over the fast unto death by a UP official who is protesting against the government's inaction against corrupt elements, the authorities tried to get him admitted to a psychiatric facility by calling him mentally unstable.
  7. 1 2 "Team Anna demands firm measures to protect whistleblowers". Rediff. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012. Social activist Anna Hazare's one-day token fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Sunday was strongly supported by people from all walks of life. – Social Welfare Officer Rinku Singh Rahi too spoke about his confrontations with the mafia in UP, and said, "Despite being an officer, I am not given information about my own department, and have been threatened many times."
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Whistleblower words ring true in probe, welfare dept in dock". The Indian Express. 27 April 2009. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2012. From his hospital bed, Rinku conveyed that during a survey of records, he found:
  9. "CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION – Complainant : Mr. Rinku Singh Rahi – Respondent: Public Information Officer" (PDF). rti.india.gov.in. 10 February 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2012. Decision No. CIC /SG/C/2008/00155/1589 – Complaint No. CIC/SG/C/2008/00155 – Decision: Complaint Partially Allowed
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Whistleblower forcibly taken to mental ward in UP". Zee News. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Packed off to Aligarh, PCS officer resumes dharna". The Indian Express. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  12. 1 2 "Police cracks down on protesting state official who sought RTI reply". Sunday Guardian . 27 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  13. 1 2 "PCS officer restarts fast against social welfare department graft". The Times of India . 29 March 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  14. 1 2 "Officer protesting against scam evicted, taken to hospital". The Asian Age. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012. I presented facts of the scam before the senior officials of the department, but none of them cooperated. Even information sought under the Right to Information Act have not been provided,"
  15. 1 2 "Lucknow: Protesting officer evicted, taken to hospital". CNN-IBN. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012. I presented facts of the scam before the senior officials of the department, but none of them cooperated. Even information sought under the Right to Information Act have not been provided

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aligarh</span> City in Uttar Pradesh, India

Aligarh is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies 342 kilometres (213 mi) northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) southeast of the capital, New Delhi. The cities and districts which adjoin Aligarh are: Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Sambhal, Badaun, Kasganj, Hathras, Etah and Mathura. As of 2011, Aligarh is the 53rd most populous city in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Right to Information Act, 2005</span> Act of the Government of India

The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a "public authority" which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. In case of matter involving a petitioner's life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours. The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 or MGNREGA, earlier known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, is an Indian social welfare measure that aims to guarantee the 'right to work'. This act was passed on 23 August 2005 and was implemented in February 2006 under the UPA government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following tabling of the bill in parliament by the Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arvind Kejriwal</span> 7th Chief Minister of Delhi (2013–14 and 2015–present)

Arvind Kejriwal is an Indian politician, activist and former bureaucrat, who is serving as the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since 2015, after his first term in the post from 2013 to 2014. He is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party since 2012. He has represented the New Delhi constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly since 2015 and from 2013 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan</span> Indian political organisation

The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan is an Indian political organisation best known for its demand for the Right to Information Act (RTI) which grew out of the demand for minimum wages for workers.

Chandra Bhanu Gupta served three terms as chief minister of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In 1970s he was a member of Congress (O) and Janata Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amitabh Thakur</span> Indian politician

Amitabh Thakur is an ex-Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and a political activist. He was given compulsory retirement in March 2021. During service, Amitabh was known for his strict adherence to rules and regulations as well as for his work in the field of administrative accountability.

Nutan Thakur, a former journalist, is a social and political activist from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, associated with a registered political party Azad Adhikar Sena, being led by her husband ex IPS officer Amitabh Thakur. She is also an advocate primary working in Lucknow bench of Allahabad High court.

Uttar Pradesh food grain scam took place between years 2002 and 2010, in Uttar Pradesh state in India, wherein food grain worth 350 billion (US$4.2 billion), meant to be distributed amongst the poor, through Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes like Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and Midday Meal Scheme for Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders, was diverted to the open market. Some of it was traced to the Nepal and Bangladesh borders, as in 2010 security forces seized Rs 11.7 million worth of foodgrains like paddy and pulses being smuggled to Nepal, another Rs 6062,000 worth of grains were confiscated on the Indo-Bangladesh border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election</span>

The Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly election followed as a result the expiration of the five-year term of the previous legislature elected in Uttar Pradesh, India. The election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was held in seven phases from 8 February through 3 March 2012. Uttar Pradesh has the world's largest population for a sub-national democracy. The incumbent chief minister Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, which previously won an absolute majority of seats, was defeated by Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which gained an absolute majority in the election. Mulayam's son and Samajwadi party president Akhilesh Yadav was nominated as chief minister by the party.

Many Right to Information Act (RTI) activists, including policemen, have been harassed and even murdered for seeking information to "promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority" in India. Many face assaults on a regular basis. People seeking information from their gram panchayat and the local administration also face social ostracism. A few activists who sought information under RTI related to MNREGA scams, were killed. Many threats and attacks go unreported by the media.

Harikumar Pallathadka is a prominent Indian Right to Information (RTI), Social Activist, Senior Administrator, Eminent Professor, Scientist and expert in Constitutional Law.

Parivartan (Transformation) is a grass-roots activism organisation based in the Sundar Nagari area of New Delhi, India. During the 2000s, Parivartan used Right to Information (RTI) to address citizens' grievances related to Public Distribution System (PDS), public works, social welfare schemes, income tax and electricity. By 2012, Parivartan was largely inactive, and its main leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia had launched a political party - the Aam Aadmi Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeetendra Ghadge</span>

Jeetendra Ghadge is an Indian activist based in Girgaon, Mumbai. Instrumental in exposing a police-politician nexus and working towards implementing police reforms. A full-time whistleblower Ghadge has also uncovered poor performance in controlling corruption by Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mumbai. As a RTI activist his work on uncovering alleged corruption in dam construction has led, according to the Times of India, to harassment of Ghadge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shanmugam Manjunath</span> Indian marketing manager

Shanmugam Manjunath was a sales officer for the Indian Oil Corporation who was murdered for sealing a corrupt petrol station in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. This incident inspired several students at IIM, IIT and other institutes culminating with the IIM students setting up "The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust".

Sanjiv Chaturvedi is an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer posted as Chief Conservator of Forest (Research) at Haldwani in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand. Chaturvedi was a Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at AIIMS, New Delhi from 2012 to 2014, and served in the government of Haryana from 2005 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorelal Manishi</span>

Gorelal Manishi was an Indian social activist, Angika language writer, former Bihar Government Engineering Services Officer and former president of Bihar Engineering Services Association. He was also the board member of Kosi Bund Erosion Judicial Enquiry Commission as constituted by the Govt. of Bihar. He was a civil engineering graduate and also he had earned bachelor's degree in Law (LLB) while he was in engineering services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijay Singh (activist)</span> Indian anti-corruption activist

Vijay Singh is an anti-corruption activist in Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has been carrying out a dharna against illegal possession of public land by private actors since February 1996. His action has been recorded as the longest such protest in various books of records including the Limca Book of Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provincial Civil Service (Uttar Pradesh)</span> Administrative civil service under the State government of Uttar Pradesh

Provincial Civil Service of Uttar Pradesh (IAST: Prāntīya Civil Sevā, often abbreviated to as PCS, is the administrative civil service of the Government of Uttar Pradesh comprising Group A and Group B posts. It is also the feeder service for Indian Administrative Service in the state.

<i>Haryana Forestry case</i> Multi-crore fake plantation scam

Haryana Forestry scam case is a multi-crore fake plantation scam allegedly involving Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kiran Chaudhary and others where government money was embezzled. In 2009, this scam was exposed by the whistleblower, Sanjiv Chaturvedi, Ramon Magsaysay Award-winner Indian Forest Service officer with then Government of Haryana, who filed a case in September 2012 to seek Supreme Court's instructions to CBI to investigate the case. Earlier, Haryana Government had suspended him in 2007 for acting against illegal felling of trees and poaching in Saraswati Wildlife Sanctuary, but his suspension was revoked by the President in 2008 and the chargesheet was overturned in 2011 on an appeal against the decision of Haryana government. An inquiry committee of the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) found Chaturvedi's allegations against Haryana government true, preferred an inquiry by Central Vigilance Commission and by CBI into dubious role of certain highly placed politicians and civil servants. CBI, in its reply to CVC, found Chaturvedi's allegations against then Haryana Government creditable enough for an independent inquiry. As per the rules, CBI can not undertake suo motu investigation, only state government, high court or supreme court can ask CBI for it.