Vyapam scam whistleblower Anand Rai gets bail from Madhya Pradesh court, lawyer informs SC
Apr 11, 2022
New Delhi [India], April 11 : Vyapam scam whistleblower Anand Rai's lawyer on Monday told the Supreme Court that Anand Rai has got bail from a local court in Madhya Pradesh.
A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud observed that Anand Rai has been released on bail on April 7, 2022, by a local court in Madhya Pradesh.
The top court also said that if a charge sheet is filed against Anand Rai, he can initiate a proceeding under section 482 of CrPC.
Vyapam scam whistleblower Anand Rai's lawyer on Friday approached Supreme Court and mentioned his plea seeking an early hearing of his petition against the Madhya Pradesh High Court order, which dismissed his plea for quashing the FIR and vacated interim relief granted to him.
On Friday, the lawyer told the Supreme Court, "the whistleblower has been arrested even though the principal accused is on bail". He also told the Court that the MP police had issued notice to him to appear and join the investigation today but he was arrested last night from Delhi, days after he moved a plea in the top Court.
Anand Rai had filed a special leave petition against the Madhya Pradesh High Court order dated April 4 2022 whereby the High Court has dismissed the petition preferred by the petitioner Rai for quashing the FIR dated March 27 2022 and has vacated the interim Order dated April 1, 2022, granted by the High Court. On April 1, MP HC has granted interim protection from arrest to Rai.
"The present case highlights the instances where a mighty and vindictive state may leave no stone unturned in order to harass a citizen and abuse the process of law to convert a possible individual case of defamation into an FIR, " the petitioner said adding that he was Whistleblower of the infamous Vyapam scam arising out of the State of Madhya Pradesh and therefore the State has had an axe to grind against him. "The Petitioner enjoys immense public faith and following due to the social causes he has fought for in the past. The present case arises out of an FIR which was lodged on the basis of a Facebook Post against the sitting Under Secretary (Respondent No.2 herein / Informant) with the State of Madhya Pradesh, " the petition said.
"A bare perusal of the said Facebook Post would reveal that in fact, by way of the said post, the Petitioner had merely questioned as to how the examination and answer key to the said examination had leaked onto the mobile phone, " the petition said.
The petitioner Rai had stated that he had posted a post on Facebook which shared the screenshot of the mobile forward from the anonymous source which had the question paper and answers key of Samvida Shikshak Varg-III in the MP-TET exam asking for CBI Investigation in the matter. After the put up the post on Facebook, an FIR was filed against him.
