IPS officer Rajnish Rai moves CAT as Centre rejects his retirement plea

Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rajnish Rai has approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Ahmedabad against the rejection of his request for voluntary retirement by the central government.

Rai, who had arrested D G Vanzara and two other IPS officers in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case in 2007, earlier sought voluntary retirement but it was rejected on the ground that "inquiries were pending or contemplated against him," as per his application before the CAT.

He was last transferred as Inspector General of the CRPF's Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism (CIAT) School at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh.

He had earlier this year sought voluntary retirement with effect from November 30 after completing 50 years of age under provisions of the All India Services (Death-Cum- Retirement Benefit) Rules, 1958, but the Centre rejected his plea in October.

 

In April 2017, while working with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Shillong in Meghalaya, he had submitted a report on "a suspected fake encounter during a joint counter-insurgency operation of security forces, resulting in the killing of two persons of the NDFB(S)," he said in his application.

After his retirement was "not agreed to by the competent authority since he was not clear from the vigilance angle," Rai approached the CAT's Ahmedabad bench on December 5.

Rai, a 1992-batch IPS officer from Gujarat, in his application sought to "set aside the letter rejecting his retirement and allow his retirement."

The CAT's Ahmedabad bench recently issued notices to the central and Gujarat governments returnable on January 1, 2019.

On November 3, 2018, when he informed the Ministry of Home Affairs' secretary that he had relinquished charge as IG, the ministry wrote asking him to join back "in view of the fact that his application for retirement had not been accepted by the competent authority of MHA," the application stated.

Rai was in August 2014 transferred out of Gujarat as the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) at Jaduguda in Jharkhand.

In April 2015 he was transferred to the CRPF at Shillong.

After his report on the "suspected fake encounter" (in the North East) he was transferred to the CIAT at Chittoor and a "departmental misconduct" charge sheet was served upon him, Rai said.

He had approached the CAT at Hyderabad against the charge sheet which stayed the proceedings against him.

When Rai was with the Gujarat CID in 2007, he had arrested senior IPS officers D G Vanzara, Rajkumar Pandian and Dinesh MN in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

Sheikh was killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005. His wife was also believed to have been done to death.

Prajapati, an aide of the gangster who was believed to be the witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police at Chapri village in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006.

The Sohrabuddin killing case was transferred to Mumbai in September 2012 on the request of the CBI for a fair trial.

In 2013, the Supreme Court had clubbed the alleged fake encounter case of Prajapati with that of Sheikh.