Vyapam whistleblower Dr Anand Rai arrested in Delhi, suspended from service

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Vyapam scam whistleblower Dr Anand Rai was arrested in Delhi by the crime branch of Bhopal police on Thursday night. At the same time, he was suspended from service by the health department on various charges against him.

Arrest and suspension of Rai came after his petition filed in the High Court with a prayer to get an FIR lodged by officer on special duty (OSD) in CM secretariat Laxman Singh Markam, quashed was dismissed.

Markam lodged the complaint with police against Dr Rai after a screenshot of MP Teacher Eligibility Test (MPTET) question paper went viral on social media in which the name of one Laxman Singh was visible in the screen shot. Dr Rai questioned who was this Laxman Singh.

Dr Rai is a medical officer at Hukumchand Hospital, Indore. After his suspension he has been attached to the joint director, health office at Rewa which is approximately 700 km away from Indore.

CMHO Indore Dr BS Setia said, “Health department has suspended Dr Rai on ground of dereliction in duty. He was found absent on his duty. Dr Rai had also made comments against the government.”

Dr Rai had filed the petition in High Court to quash the FIR which was registered under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The High Court, while quashing the FIR, made observations that Dr Rai was a whistleblower but it didn’t mean that he would level any allegation against an innocent person and he had no right to make any caste based comment.