Prashant Pandey

Prashant Pandey (born 1978) is an Indian activist, IT consultant and digital forensic engineer from Madhya Pradesh, known for his role in the Vyapam scam investigation.

Pandey worked as an IT consultant with the Special Task Force (STF) investigating the Vyapam scam. In 2014, he was arrested for allegedly using the records collected by the team to blackmail those accused in the scam. Pandey denied the allegations, and stated that he was being falsely implicated for trying to expose the involvement of senior state government leaders in the scam. Since then, he has alleged death threats and harassment by the police at the behest of the state government.

Background

Prashant Pandey holds a Master of Computer Applications degree from the Indore University. He used to operate a web portal called policewala.com, However, he was virtually unknown before his 2014 arrest during the Vyapam scam investigations.

Allegations in Vyapam scam

2014 arrest

In 2013, several members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were accused in the Vyapam scam in the Madhya Pradesh state of India. The investigators accused him of obtaining information illegally using "his network in the inner circle of the police department", and of selling the CDRs.

Allegations as a whistleblower

After his arrest, Pandey approached the Indian National Congress (INC) general secretary Digvijaya Singh, and claimed to be a whistleblower.

Court cases

In February 2015, on the basis of Prashant Pandey's accusations, the INC went to the Madhya Pradesh High Court alleging that the STF's investigation was based on the doctored file. Pandey was mentioned as "Mr X" in the court records to guard his identity. Meanwhile, Pandey moved to Delhi, citing threats to his life. He filed a case in the Delhi High Court, which provided him police protection.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court sent the original hard disk seized by the STF from Nitin Mohindra to the government forensic laboratory in Gandhinagar, which concluded that it had not been tampered with. In April 2015, the SIT told the High Court that Pandey had submitted forged documents and misled the investigations. The INC lawyer Vivek Tankha alleged that that SIT was working under political pressure, and had dismissed Pandey's version as forged without examining it.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court assigned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the authenticity of Pandey's version of the Excel file. The CBI concluded that Pandey had submitted false information before the court, recommended closing the case and declared that it will frame charges against Pandey. In June 2017, Pandey filed an interlocutory application against the CBI. He argued that had not followed proper procedures while collecting the evidence: it had seized only the hard disk drive, but not other digital equipment. He also alleged that CBI had not investigated the people whose names had surfaced in connection with the scam.

Alleged harassment and threats

Pandey has reported receiving death threats.

On 8 May 2015, he filed a police complaint stating that some unidentified people had tried to kill him and his family in a car accident. Pandey's wife, his 4-year-old son, his father and his grandmother were in the car. Pandey was present in a vehicle following the overturned car. An audio clip, allegedly of Pandey's call to the police control room, went viral on WhatsApp the next day. In the audio, the caller can be heard saying that his car had overturned after being hit by a dead cow.

Pandey alleged that his life was under threat from "influential people in power", and appealed the Supreme Court seeking security cover.

After Pandey moved to Delhi citing death threats, his wife Meghna continued to live in Indore with the rest of their family. In July 2015, the Indore Police briefly detained Meghna with and seized 996,000 in cash from her. The police claimed that they had been tipped off about an illegal hawala transaction taking place at the firm, where Meghna works as an HR manager. The police apprehended her as she was coming out of the firm's office with the cash. They claimed that they seized the cash because she could not provide a satisfactory explanation about its origin. The police released her after a few hours, informing the Income Tax department about the cash. Prashant Pandey stated that the seized cash was the couple's "own hard-earned money" mentioned in their tax returns, and was to be given to a builder for booking a flat. The incident led to allegations that the State Government had been harassing Pandey and his family for his role in exposing the Vyapam scam. Inspector General of Police Vipin Maheshwari had to hold a press conference to deny these allegations.

Phone tapping allegations

In May 2015, Pandey alleged that 4,000 Madhya Pradesh police personnel were using illegal telephone tapping software known as CRA-I and CRA-II. Pandey claimed to have learned about the phone tapping software in 2011–12, while mining data for ATS and other police agencies. He further alleged that the government agencies were making monthly payments ranging from half-a-million rupees to 5 million rupees, to a US-based company for this software.

Pandey also requested the Supreme Court to order a CBI inquiry into this matter. The petition is pending before the Court.