Rajnish Rai

Rajnish Rai was a Deputy inspector general of police for the Indian Police Service. He began service after graduating with the 1992 cadre. Following the arrests the state took Rai off the case and returned it to Geetha Johri, who had originally investigated it.

The supposed motivations for the BJP to support the police officers involved in the killings was that these police were Gujarati in the home state of high ranking politicians, and that the killed people were said to be terrorists, and the party's image benefited from eliminating terrorism. The three officers whom Rai arrested were said to be close to politician Amit Shah and also involved in the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, the Ishrat Jahan case, and the Tulsiram Prajapati killing.

Before Tulsiram was killed, Rai reported his statement that he feared that police would kill him in a fake encounter.

Claim of corruption in uranium mining In April 2015 the government gave Rai a new posting to the Central Reserve Police Force. In this role he was to move to Jadugora, a remote location where the Uranium Corporation of India operates the Jaduguda uranium mine. Rai complained of the remoteness of the transfer, saying that it would separate him from his family. In this role Rai made claims of massive corruption amounting to theft of crores of rupees. The nature of corruption was dismissing lower bids from eligible contractors due to technicalities in completing a form, while overlooking comparable errors in the form of the selected contractor's significantly higher bid. In his report, Rai claimed that multiple government agencies coordinated to perform the killing.

When he reported these things to the Ranchi office of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Home Ministry issued a criminal chargesheet against him which included accusations that he incorrectly or inappropriately conducted the investigation.

Rai claimed that academic test observers harassed him with cheating accusations while he sought his undergraduate law degree. Later when Rai sought employment at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur he instead received a transfer to faraway Shillong. After submitting his 3-month notice to retire, the Ministry of Home Affairs rejected his request. After Rai quit coming to work, he got a suspension. The Ministry of Home Affairs requested that this school not appoint Rai while he is suspended, but the Ministry of Education replied by saying that the school is autonomous and manages itself.