Manohar Mishra

A Right to Information (RTI) activist has sought police protection for his family members and himself after receiving threat calls allegedly for exposing a racket of fake freedom fighters in the state.

Manohar Mishra, a resident of Jhanjharpur in Madhubani district, had sent an email last month to the Union home minister, Rajnath Singh, seeking the police protection. He started receiving anonymous calls soon after he exposed the racket of fake freedom fighters thriving in the state in August.

The RTI activist initiated the process of exposing the racket in 2012. His mission was complete this year.

Mishra, in his early 30s, claimed that he started receiving threat calls soon after he unearthed the names of fake freedom fighters. Initially he ignored them. But the frequency of threats increased in September, compelling him to seek the police protection.

“My aged parents are spending sleepless nights after they came to know about the threat calls,” he told The Telegraph over phone from Calcutta on Monday.

Mishra, who works with a private firm, is staying in Calcutta after the threat calls.

The RTI activist said: “I have sent a list of people receiving pension meant for freedom fighters by submitting fake documents to the Union home minister. I have also demanded a probe into the scam,” Mishra said, sharing details of the email he had sent to Rajnath on September 25.

According to Mishra, Bihar has the highest number of freedom fighters in the country — 23,000. Many of them were born after Independence. But they staked claim for availing the benefits freedom fighters are entitled to.

“A well-knit racket is thriving in the state in alleged collusion with some officials. A fair probe will bring the anomalies to the fore,” he said.

Mishra claimed that the criminals behind the racket of fake freedom fighters were after him and they threatened him and his family members with dire consequences.

“I have asked my parents not to stay in the native village. The racketeers can physically harm me and also implicate me in false cases,” Mishra wrote in the mail to Rajnath, a copy of which is in the possession of The Telegraph.

The threat on the life of Mishra comes within a week after an employee of the postal department was killed in Nalanda district for exposing recruitment scam. A Hajipur-based RTI activist Devendra Rai said five RTI activists had been killed in the state in the past six years.

Mishra got an inkling about the racketeers when bribe was demanded from him for the inclusion of the names of his grandfather Markandey Mishra and later his (Markandey’s) widow Tapeshwari Devi in the list of freedom fighters a couple of years ago. But neither Markandey, nor his widow got the benefits during their lifetime.

The RTI activist claimed that around Rs 800 crore was spent annually on the pension scheme for the freedom fighters in India. Each beneficiary gets a monthly remuneration of Rs 15,000 and other perks from the Centre in addition to the state government’s pension of Rs 2,000 per month. A freedom fighter is also entitled to a railway pass for unlimited travel.

“It is quite surprising that the state government has no information about the freedom fighters benefiting from the scheme. It is evident from the reply of the state government officials to an RTI application I had filed,” he said.

Mishra was taken aback when the officials of the department (of Bihar government) concerned told him that they had nothing to do with the pension scheme as it was centrally sponsored. But a source said the beneficiaries’ list is sent to the Centre after the state government verifies it.

“When I sought a list of the freedom fighters getting benefits of the scheme, the Bihar government officials denied having one,” he said, adding that he had filed an appeal in the Central Information Commission in this regard.

The RTI activist later approached the Union ministry of home affairs and sought the list of the beneficiaries. “I came to know that 80 per cent of the beneficiaries have tampered with their date of birth and furnished false documents,” he said.

Special secretary in the home department Alok Raj feigned ignorance about any inquiry being conducted by the state government in the wake of the complaints of irregularities in the freedom fighters’ pension scheme. “I have no idea about it,” he told The Telegraph.