Bhopal, Sept. 4 (The Telegraph): Vyapam whistleblower Anand Rai is no James Bond but he today carried the sinister scandal that has shaken and stirred Madhya Pradesh into 007 territory.
The young doctor claimed he had used a high-tech "Israeli-made watch" to record a conversation with Shivraj Singh Chouhan while the chief minister allegedly tried to strike a deal with him.
Whereas, unlike Bond, Rai has never been a spy, he claimed he had gained knowledge of a range of surveillance devices while helping the Intelligence Bureau for a decade.
Rai had on Wednesday filed an affidavit with Madhya Pradesh High Court saying Chouhan had invited him home on August 11 night and requested him to stop incriminating him and his family in the Vyapam scam.
Chouhan allegedly offered to transfer Rai and his wife Gauri, both government doctors, back to Indore from their current postings in Dhar, where they are reluctant to go fearing attacks.
The high court has issued a notice to the state government giving it seven days to respond to Rai's allegation. Today was the first time Rai claimed he had evidence.
"I have electronic evidence," he told The Telegraph from Indore. "I know the chief minister's house has a CCTV, physical frisking and other security devices but they could not detect (the purported Israeli watch)."
Bond's watches are known to perform many tricks, from releasing a steel wire with which opponents can be strangled to sending messages to unzipping a woman's dress. Rai is not too far behind.
"I know how to protect myself: I have worked as an Intelligence Bureau informer," he said.
"My training with the IB has taught me a lot about surveillance equipment and their handling. I'm aware of the latest gadgets and Israel is a pioneer in such products."
Asked how he had got involved with the Intelligence Bureau, Rai merely said: "You must know that the IB involves civil society members in their covert operations. I have been assisting them."
The August 11 meeting had remained a secret till Wednesday. Rai says Chouhan had been "extremely civil and courteous" and that he had taken it on face value, while refusing to strike a deal.
"But soon after the meeting, there were leaks saying I had been brought round," he said. "Someone even called up the Indian Medical Association asking it not to support me on professional grounds. I felt hurt by these monkey tricks."
Rai says he then decided to approach the court about the meeting.
Chouhan played down his allegations.
"The state government will file a reply in the high court," he said while supervising preparations for the World Hindi Conference, which begins in Bhopal next week.
Rai and Gauri claim they fear to go to Dhar because it's the hometown of a senior BJP leader against whom Rai had complained to the CBI. At least 26 Vyapam accused and witnesses have died, many under suspicious circumstances.
State BJP spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai had dismissed the couple's fears, calling them "bizarre" and describing Verma as a "gentle and decent" man.
The high court has stayed Gauri's transfer and the couple have stayed put in Indore.
Rai was one of the first complainants to claim irregularities in the Vyapam scandal, which relates to cheating - with official connivance -in exams conducted by a state board for seats in professional courses and certain government jobs.
Local police had registered some of the first cases in 2013 on the basis of a report by Rai, a former Sangh-BJP activist. The CBI is now probing the scandal.
