Seven bullets only strengthened his resolve

MEERUT (Uttar Pradesh): His story is the stuff that Bollywood blockbusters are made up of. A Rs 100 crore scholarship scam that he unearthed when he was a young officer in the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) in March 2009, put him on the firing line of the mafia.

Seven bullets were pumped into him — three in the face — that left him disfigured, blind in one eye, and with impaired hearing in an ear.

Rinkoo Rahee was deputed as a social welfare officer in Muzaffarnagar in 2008 when he busted the massive racket. Eight men were booked for the attack on him that followed, out of which four were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"During my ordeal, I was not fighting the system. The system was fighting me. I was in the hospital for four months but my medical leave is 'pending' for approval to date," said Rahee, now 40.

However, Rinkoo Rahee was not one to reconcile with his fate. He decided to strengthen his own hands and crack the UPSC exam.

He finally has done it, securing 683rd rank. (UPSC has an age relaxation for some special categories of candidates which helped Rahee.)

Rahee said that though he was attacked during the Mayawati regime, he was sent to a psychiatric ward during the Samajwadi Party regime for protesting corruption too much'.

Rahee said, "My grandfather died when my father was 10 years old. My grandmother was thrown out of her in-laws' house.

She had to do every menial job, including cleaning toilets of other people's homes, to survive. My father was good at studies but had to drop out to take care of the family. I grew up listening to these stories of exploitation and thought that had government officials been honest, we could have benefitted from several schemes. This is what drove me all along."

Rahee is now the father of an eight-year-old. "It's not that temptation didn't knock on my doors. But I knew that if I ever indulged in nefarious activities, someone else and their child may suffer too," he said.

He said he has insured himself in case there are any more attacks on him in future.

"Now I make my observations very transparent and post them on social media because my death will remove all proof of scams," he said. (IANS)

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