IPS officer Rajnish Rai who took on govt is now faculty at IIM-Ahmedabad

Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rajnish Rai, whose voluntary retirement is being contested by the union and the state government, has joined India's premier management school – the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad as a faculty member.

Rai was appointed an assistant professor in the public systems group on May 6, 2019.

Rai has been at loggerheads with the state government after he made arrests in 2007 in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case that included IPS officers DG Vanzara (retired), Rajkumar Pandian and Rajasthan cadre IPS officer Dinesh MN.

Highly placed sources at IIM-A confirmed his presence on campus. They said, "It has been 50 days that he has joined the campus but he is keeping a low profile.

"He brings with him immense practical as well as academic knowledge especially in the area of strategy."

This year, the IIM-A has appointed seven new faculty members including Rai and the last appointment was made on June 7.

A few years ago, Rai had taken a study leave to study LLB and the Fellow Programme of Management course at IIM-A. He has done a post-graduation in Patents Law.

In November 2018, he had sought voluntary retirement after completing 50 years of age.

At the time, he was posted as Inspector General, Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism School, CRPF, in Chitoor in Andhra Pradesh.

But soon after that, the union government responded that his application had been rejected and that he should join duty. Since then, he has been fighting on the issue of his voluntary retirement.

In March this year, he had moved high court seeking relief that respondent governments be directed "not to interfere, directly or indirectly, with any application made by the applicant for employment to any organization/institution".

IIM-A creates a separate web page for individual faculty members and a page on Rai has also been created but details such as research work, qualifications, etc, are yet to be uploaded.

The source said, "His official email id has been created."

When DNA tried to contact Rai, he refused to comment on the matter. DNA also attempted to get in touch with the institute's director, professor Errol D'Souza, but he was not available for comment either.

New Role

• Rajnish Rai was appointed an assistant professor in the public systems group on May 6
• Highly placed sources at IIM-A confirmed his presence on campus. They said, “It has been 50 days that he has joined the campus but he is keeping a low profile. “He brings with him immense practical as well as academic knowledge especially in the area of strategy.”