The Hindu : Hyderabad: Sunday, April 08, 2012.
A PIL has been filed in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court by a local lawyer demanding CBI investigation into the allegations of corruption in the state-run schemes of social welfare department levelled by Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officer Rinku Singh Rahi. The petition also seeks proper security to Rahi and a judicial inquiry into his forceful eviction by the Lucknow police from the Dharna Sthal late on March 26.
"Government agencies, instead of taking stern action against the corrupt officers/bureaucrats, start harassing and victimizing the person fighting against corruption,'' said petitioner Prince Lenin adding, "D D Mishra, an IPS officer posted as DIG (Fire Services), was treated in a similar manner when he exposed financial irregularities worth crores in the fire department."
Whistleblower bureaucrat Rahi, along with his family members, started his fast-unto-death on March 26 at the Dharna Sthal in front of Vidhan Sabha. They were forcibly evicted by the police in the midnight after doctors found that his health was deteriorating. He was taken to the Balrampur Hospital where doctors referred him to the Psychiatry department of the Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University (CSMMU).
Rahi had alleged that though the doctors declared him stable, the police forced them to leave the city. Next morning, Rahi and his family took a train back to their hometown, Aligarh, where Rahi continued his agitation.On Saturday also, when TOI spoke to his family members, they informed that Rahi was suffering from typhoid and was in hospital.
"He is on liquid diet after the additional district magistrate (on March 28) assured that he will furnish details to his RTI filed in 2009 seeking details about the unused funds associated with the welfare schemes. Till now, he has not had food,'' said Rahi's sister Archana.
Posted as district social welfare officer in Muzzafarnagar in 2008, Rahi had exposed corruption to the tune of Rs 40 crores in the department. He has been demanding a thorough probe in all the state-run welfare schemes. He was also attacked by the mafia on March 26, 2009. In the assault, his jaw was severely damaged and he lost vision in one of his eyes.
Later, a probe into his allegation proved that his claims that the spending of allocated funds were not accounted for by the social welfare department for more than five years. This led to the arrest of nine people, including SP leader Mukesh Chowdhary, and a department assistant accountant Ashok Kashyap.
Instead of taking action against the guilty, the Mayawati government transferred him to an insignificant post. Rahi is now posted at a state-run coaching institute for IAS/IPS aspirants from the Dalit community in Aligarh.
After he sat on a hunger strike on March 26, the SP government constituted a two-member committee on March 28 to probe Rahi's allegations of corruption. The committee, which has been formed under the chairmanship of Meerut commissioner, is supposed to submit the report within two months.
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