Ashish Chaturvedi
Human Rights Defender
Madhya Pradesh

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on January 9 regarding death threats to Vyapam scam whistleblower Mr. Ashish Chaturvedi in Madhya Pradesh. 
 
On December 13, 2019, Mr. Chaturvedi received a call from an unknown number (7699 844587), and the caller asked him for the notices he had served to builders regarding illegal colonies and threatened that he would face dire consequences if he did not take the notices back. Mr. Chaturvedi asked the caller to respond to the legal notices he’d sent in writing, after which the caller abused and threatened to kill him. On December 14, 2019, Mr. Chaturvedi received another from another unknown number (8319398829) asking him to withdraw the legal notices.

The threats are a direct fallout of Mr. Chaturvedi serving legal notices to builders who occupied encroached land as he suspected there was a scam involving 6-7 land mafias. A case was registered against the unidentified caller under Sections 294, 506, and 507 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and an inquiry has been initiated into the matter. The anti-mafia squad of Gwalior district is also aware of the threat issued to Mr. Chaturvedi.