Court quashes GU decision to declare him failed in LLB papers, allows him to appear in two semester exams simultaneouslyThe Gujarat High Court on Friday observed that the Gujarat University's inquiry into the allegations that IPS officer Rajnish Rai had used unfair means in an LLB examination was in total disregard of the principles of natural justice and fair play. The court quashed the decision of the GU's Examination Reforms Committee that had declared him fail in all the subjects of second semester examination for the first year.Justice Jayant Patel, in his order, also directed the university to declare the results of the officer by November 14. The ruling also allowed Rai to simultaneously appear in the examinations of first and second semesters of second year in April 2009, overlooking the attendance criteria as the case was pending in the court.Rai was declared failed after a footscale with writings on it was allegedly caught by the invigilators during the exam.Ruling that the material found from the possession of the student must be relevant to the subject of examination, the judge said the university had miserably failed to establish it in the particular case. He said the footscale in question should have been preserved. The court further observed that the contention of the university that any material found from a student during examination was liable for punishment under unfair means was absolutely absurd and ridiculous. On the denial of opportunity of cross examination to Rai, the judge said it had caused immense prejudice to him to exercise his right of defence, which was otherwise available to every citizen, especially in view of the fact that all the statements in the case were recorded in his absence. The court said that had the officer been given the opportunity of cross examination, he could have brought out the truth and proved his innocence.He further ruled that the action of the concerned authorities to withhold the answersheet of Rai was arbitrary and against the rules and procedures of the university which were required to be followed in such cases.Reacting to the order, Rai said, “My stand has been vindicated.” His counsel Harin Raval said the ruling has proved their contention that the action taken by the university was arbitrary and against rules.Who is Rajnish Rai?AN Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of 1992 batch of the Gujarat cadre, Rajnish Rai shot into fame by arresting three IPS officers — DG Vanzara, Raj Kumar Pandian and Dinesh MN — on April 24, 2007, in connection with the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case and murder of his wife Kausarbi. However, he was removed from the investigating team on May 3, with the investigations being handed over to Geetha Johri.Rai was DIG, CID (Crime) when he was given the investigation into the encounter case following an order by the Supreme Court. As the incident had taken place in Ahmedabad, the investigations were first given to Geetha Johri posted in Ahmedabad city. During probe, serious controversial matters surfaced, implicating Vanzara, Pandian and Dinesh of the Rajasthan Police. As Pandian was a close friend of Rai, the former reportedly managed to get the investigations transferred to him hoping that the latter would bail him out. Pandian had not consulted Rai before getting the case assigned to him. Rai is reported to have frankly told Pandian that he could not help him in the matter and he should get it transferred to some other officer. And, within a week of the matter being handed over to him, Rai called Vanzara, Pandian and Dinesh to his office and arrested them. While taking drastic action, Rai kept everybody, including the Director General of Police in dark, earning the wrath of the department. He also made a bid to conduct narco-analysis test on the three, but he was removed from the investigating team before that. He was subsequently transferred to the State Crime Records Bureau. In May 2008, he was posted as principal of the State Reserve Police Training School in Junagadh and is still continuing there.
