Vyapam whistleblower assaulted by RSS men

The Gwalior police have booked two important office-bearers of the RSS for assaulting a whistleblower in the infamous Vyapam scam inside the organisation's city office on Sunday afternoon.

Ashish Chaturvedi, 27, the most fearless campaigner against the suspects involved in the multi-layered scam, has been assaulted 14 times since India's biggest job-cum-admission rip-off surfaced in July 2013 at Indore.

When Ashish had reportedly insisted on joining the Guru Purnima puja, the two office-bearers thrashed him and called the police.

On Chaturvedi's complaint, the police have booked Dr Namdhari, head of the state of the RSS public-relations wing and Dr Narvaria, convener of the RSS national medico association.

They are accused of forcibly stopping the whistleblower from entering the Sangh's office and thrashing him.

The police have also registered a case against Ashish Chaturvedi on the RSS complaint that he was trying to barge into its function uninvited.

According to police sources, Ashish, who was once a RSS volunteer, wanted to attend a function at the Sangh office to mark the Guru Purnima.

Some volunteers objected to his presence on the ground that his sustained campaign against Vyapam suspects, including some RSS leaders, has not only embarrassed the Shivraj Singh government but has also sullied the organisation’s image.

At the Janakganj police station, Ashish sat on a dharna demanding that cases be registered against those who assaulted him. He accused the police of dragging him from the RSS office to the police station like a criminal.

Although the Madhya Pradesh Police have provided Ashish Chaturvedi contables for protection around the clock on the Madhya Pradesh high court’s order, the feisty whistleblower has faced over a dozen attacks in the past from persons suspected to be involved with the Vyapam scam directly or indirectly.

He has pleaded to the top police officials, the court in Gwalior and the chief minister to change his guards who he said disappeared when he was assaulted.

From his social life and privacy to his career, future and education, Ashish Chaturvedi, has paid heavy price for standing up against the Vyapam scam culprits who were not only high and mighty but also allegedly have political affiliation from people as big as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

Ironically, Ashish had joined the RSS in 2006 to assist it in fighting corruption and other evils in the country.

"But during the course of my mother's treatment, I learnt people from RSS are also involved in this malpractice and that's where my trust in RSS got shattered," he once told the media.