Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rajnish Rai, who had probed the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case and arrested three senior police officers — Rajkumar Pandian, D.G. Vanjara and Dinesh M.N. in 2007 — has reportedly sought voluntary retirement from service.
The 1992-batch IPS officer is currently on central deputation and is posted in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, at the Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism School of the CRPF. According to sources, Mr. Rai has written to the Gujarat government seeking premature retirement from service. The State government has received his application but is yet to forward it to the Centre.
He is the second IPS officer to opt for retirement after Rahul Sharma, who had probed the 2002 Gujarat riots cases. Both these officers were at loggerheads with the State BJP government owing to their investigations into the Sohrabuddin case and 2002 riots cases.
Transferred frequently
In 2014, Mr. Rai was sent on central deputation as Chief Vigilance Officer to Uranium Corporation of India at Jaduguda, Jharkhand, where he had exposed alleged corruption and financial irregularities. He was then transferred to Assam as IG, CRPF. There also he had in a report alleged that two operatives of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (S) were gunned down in a staged shooting by the Army, the Assam Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal and the CRPF in Chirang district. Following his report, the Home Ministry had set up a panel to probe the allegations of extrajudicial killings.
