Vyapam scam whistleblower Anand Rai moves SC after arrest from Delhi

Vyapam scam whistleblower Anand Rai, who recently 'exposed' the Madhya Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (MP-TET) paper leak, moved to the Supreme Court on Friday, after he was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police from a hotel in Delhi late on Thursday.

Rai was arrested after the Madhya Pradesh High Court vacated its order granting protection from arrest in an FIR, in connection with the paper leak case in MP.

Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, representing Rai, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, that the whistleblower has been arrested by the police late last night, even though the principal accused is on bail.

Tankha said the MP Police had issued notice to him to appear and join the investigation on Friday, but he was arrested from Delhi and taken to Madhya Pradesh. Tankha said his petition is pending in the apex court. He sought an early hearing on his client's petition. The Chief Justice agreed to take up the matter on Monday.

On Thursday, the high court dismissed a plea filed by Rai in which he prayed to quash an FIR registered against him on a complaint by Chief Minister's OSD Laxman Singh Markam.

Rai and a Congress leader K.K. Mishra had earlier claimed that Markam was involved in the MP-TET paper leak case. The duo had then claimed that the screenshot of a question paper of MP-TET that went viral on social media was leaked from Markam's mobile phone. The allegation had then sparked controversy in the state.

In response to the allegations, Markam lodged an FIR against Rai and Mishra alleging that the duo had shared "misleading information" related to him on the paper leak. He had accused Rai of making objectionable social media posts and sharing screenshots of a person with his name.