Uttar Pradesh RTI Dr Amar Nath Pandey activist shot at

Dr Amar Nath Pandey, a Right To Information (RTI) activist, was fired at and injured in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district on Thursday for exposing and questioning the corruption in the implementation of government schemes locally.

There was an attempt earlier on his life when a jeep tried to run him over, with the latest attack coming as the second one in a week.

He was shot at by unidentified assailants in Deepnagar locality of Sonebhadra.

“An attacker fired at me and fled in a narrow lane as I was returning from a doctor’s chamber,” he said from hospital bed.

Police said FIR has been lodged against three, including one Rajesh Yadav and Rajesh Dubey.

Pandey was exposing the loot in the construction of roads under the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

The 55-year old Congress worker’s RTI work resulted in the government recover Rs.30 lakh from errant officers in development block Ghorawal, said the RTI India website.

A Block Development Officer and a village panchayat pradhan are suspected to be behind the attack.

He had exposed how a brick that can cost Rs 4 was billed at Rs 24 apiece, reports said.

Amarnath Pandey is currently admitted in BHU hospital with injuries.