The Ahmedabad-based RTI activist, who has been filing requests on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational qualification, has alleged that he was now being ‘investigated’ by Intelligence Bureau officials at the behest of Ministry of Home Affairs.
Parag Patel, whose RTI requests on PM Modi in the past included about his educational qualifications and cost of his foreign trips, told www.jantakareporter.com that an IB official contacted him on Monday wishing to meet him.
Also Read | PM Modi’s 2014 US trip cost Rs 9 crore, no MoU signed says RTI reply
“Baburao Sakaroji came to my house and grilled me for nearly 45 minutes. He said he had the instruction from the MHA to find more information about me. When I asked him why, he said it could be that that Modi government may want to give me some awards or I was filing too many RTI requests against the prime minister.”
Baburao SakarojiPatel has filed more than 180 RTI requests so far. Most of his RTI requests had resulted in considerable embarrassment for the central government.
His RTI request on the photo of Modi holding a broom and sweeping the floor being fake had caused quite a stir in January.
Also Read | Photo of PM Modi cleaning floor using broom was photoshopped, confirms RTI reply
When exclusively published by www.jantakareporter.com, the revelation had dominated the media coverage of almost every Indian channel and publication.
Last year in September, his RTI request had revealed how Gujarat University rejected to divulge information on PM Modi’s MA degree.
This too went to generate considerable media interest across media houses in the country.
Also Read | Gujarat University rejects RTI request on PM Modi’s Masters degree
Among his other RTI requests was also the information sought on Modi’s first ever US trip in 2014.
The information obtained by Patel in May 2015 revealed that Modi had incurred Rs 9 crore on his first US trip without signing a single MoU.
The activist asked if an emergency had been declared in India and the latest attempt by the MHA was designed to muzzle ‘individuals like me.’
He said, “I was first approached by one Ashwini from the local police station in Pune (he works in an IT company there). She said that her seniors will visit me at my house. They knew my home and office addresses. This looks very dangerous.”
Patel always requested for anonymity fearing reprisals from the administration. He suspects that the central government may have passed his personal details stated in RTI requests on to the IB.