‘Goa Raj Bhavan invited me, framed me, sent me to jail’

Rai had earlier sent copies of his complaint to the Vajpayee PMO as well as the National Human Rights Commission.

Rai’s name first appeared in newspapers last December when he was accused of checking into the Goa Raj Bhavan, pretending to be the son of then Chief Justice V N Khare.

Rai and his friend Vijay — a CAG employee who has since been suspended — were then charged with a section of law that deals with would-be assassins. The offence is punishable by death.

While that particular charge has now been junked — even the Goa court found it ridiculous — Rai claims he was arrested and detained only because Sahni feared he possessed an ‘‘incriminating tape’’ involving the Governor which he says he never had.

Rai claims he knew the Governor well even before he set foot in Goa. So there was no question of his “pretending” to be Khare’s son.

An investigation by The Sunday Express shows that Rai did receive phone calls from Raj Bhavan at his home even before he reached Goa on November 29.

Rai claims he first visited the Raj Bhavan more than a month before the November trip that led to his arrest. During his visit in October, he says he met the Governor as well as his ADC Vivek Madhwal.

Police witness Nitin P. Dhond said that Rai’s luggage contained a photograph of Rai and Madhwal talking to each other in the Raj Bhavan precincts. Dhond said that photo was clicked in October—a month before the ‘‘imposters’’ landed up at Raj Bhavan.

However, that photograph was not entered in the recovery list at the time of Rai’s arrest. Asked to explain this, Rina Torcato, the investigating officer in the case, said: ‘‘I can’t recollect.’’

Records show that at least five calls were exchanged between Rai and the Governor’s direct line before Rai reached Goa. Three of these were made from Raj Bhavan. Goa officials also allowed Rai and his friend to spend the night at Raj Bhavan even though they said, in the FIR, that they knew they were “imposters”.

The following day, the two men were charged with an offence punishable by death. Allowing the bail petition 10 days later, Panaji Additional Sessions Judge U V Bakre noted: “There is nothing absolutely on record as to what offence the applicants were to commit in Raj Bhavan, forget about an offence punishable with death”.

Rai claims he has been victimised. This is his version of events as per his complaints to the PMO and the NHRC and interviews to The Sunday Express:

• He met Sahni at the BJP Delhi office.

• Rai went to Goa on October 15 to organise a conference for the United Nations Development Programme and Planning Commission, which was to be held from December 11 to 14 (a claim officially confirmed by Brianchi N Nanda, a Planning Commission official). Rai says he called up Sahni who sent a car to fetch him.

• Sahni told Rai he wanted a ‘‘TV profile’’ made of himself. Rai agreed to do this in Delhi and says he met the Governor in Goa Sadan on October 21 and 22. The twist came on the evening on October 22.

• Rai says he was asked to leave the room midway when four people came to visit the Governor. ‘‘I forgot my video camera in the room,’’ says Rai. “It was, of course, switched off.’’ * Rai says he returned the following day to retrieve his camera. He says he light-heartedly told the Governor’s ADC that he had left it behind to “record the Governor’s activities.’’

• Rai says that when he reached Goa in November, Madhwal persuaded him to stay at the Raj Bhavan. The ADC asked him to hand over the tape. He said he did not have one.

• Next morning, Rai claims he was taken to Sahni who also asked for the tapes. When Rai stuck to his story, he was arrested and detained in Goa for more than a month.