Rinkoo Rahee Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Full name	Rinku Singh Rahee [1]National Herald
Profession	Civil Servant
Famous for	• Being the whistleblower in the 2009 Muzaffarnagar scam. • Securing an AIR of 683 in the 2021 UPSC examinations.
Provincial Civil Service
Service	Uttar Pradesh-Provincial Civil Services (UP-PCS)
Batch	2004
UPSC
Batch	2021
Rank	683
Personal Life
Date of Birth	20 May 1982 (Thursday)
Age (as of 2022)	40 Years
Birthplace	Dori Nagar, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
Zodiac sign	Taurus
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Dori Nagar, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
School	Naurangi Lal Government Inter College, Aligarh
College/University	• National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur • IGNOU
Educational Qualification(s)	• BTech (Metallurgy) [2]National Herald • Master of Arts [3]Rinkoo Rahee's official Facebook account
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Family
Wife/Spouse	Name not known
Children	Rinkoo Rahee has a son
Parents	Father- Shivdan Singh (flour mill owner) Mother- Name not known (homemaker)
Siblings	Brother- Dinesh Rahee (former employee of UP Government) Sister- Kalpana Rahee

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rinkoo Rahee

• Rinkoo Rahee is an Indian whistleblower and a civil servant. He is known for unearthing the Rs 83 Crore Muzaffarnagar Welfare Department scam in 2009. In his 16th attempt, Rinkoo Rahee secured an All India Rank of 683 in the 2021 UPSC examinations.

• Rinkoo Rahee comes from a lower-middle-class family. Therefore, his father could not afford his education in a convent school, and he had to complete his schooling at a government school. In an interview, Rinkoo claimed,
  

  My father was good at studies but had to drop out to take care of the family. I grew up listening to these stories of exploitation and thought that had government officials been honest, we could have benefitted from several schemes. This is what drove me all along.”

• Since childhood, Rinkoo Rahee was a brilliant student. In 1998, he was offered a scholarship for obtaining good marks in class 12th.

• Rinkoo Rahee completed his graduation in 2002. In 2004, he cleared the UPPSC examination in his first attempt.

• Rinkoo Rahee was given his first posting in 2008 as a District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO) at Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh.

• In 2008, while conducting an audit as a DSWO, Rinkoo Rahee found several discrepancies in the distribution and allocations of funds under several social schemes, which were implemented by the Social Welfare Department of Muzaffarnagar.

• While conducting the investigation, Rinkoo found out that not only did the department openly flout the norms laid by the Uttar Pradesh government of holding an annual meeting with the elected MPs or MLAs from Muzaffarnagar but also embezzled the funds allocated for the benefit of the BPL families.

• In the same year, he exposed another scam in the Old Age Pension Scheme. Rinkoo found out that the department, in its official records, had mentioned that there were 62,447 pensioners, whereas, in reality, the department gave an annual pension of Rs 3,600 to just 47,707 pensioners.

• Unearthing another scam in 2008, Rinkoo found that the department, in its accounts book, had mentioned that it had distributed Rs 5.5 crore among 22,000 OBC students and Rs 11 crore among Muzaffarnagar’s BPL families. The audit revealed that the department had made false entries in its records.

• In 2009, a few days before Rinkoo Rahee was attacked, he had lodged a complaint with the District Magistrate (DM) Bhuvneesh Kumar about the discrepancies found during the audit of the department. In the same year, Rinkoo also wrote a letter to the Director of the Muzaffarnagar’s Social Welfare Department.

• On the morning of 26 March 2009, Rinkoo Rahee was playing badminton on his residential premises, when some armed men attacked Rinkoo and fired several rounds of bullets. Rinkoo was hit seven times and was grievously injured. He was shot thrice in the face. Another bullet pierced the back of his skull and came out through his right eye. As a result of the deadly attack, he lost vision in the right eye, and his hearing capability was severely affected. In an interview, Rinku said,
  

  It was a very tough job with the mafia and the touts dominating the scene and interested in schemes of the social welfare department. They were in cohorts with my office staff, including an accountant, and when I refused to toe the line, I was fired at while I was playing badminton at my residence in Muzaffarnagar. When I was being harassed, I was not fighting the system but the system was fighting me. I stayed in the hospital for four months. My leave on medical is not approved yet.”

  

  Rinkoo Rahee in a hospital after the attack

• After the attack, the police registered an FIR against the assailants and arrested nine conspirators, including Ashok Kashyap, an Assistant Accountant in the Welfare Department and Mukesh Chaudhary, a Samajwadi Party leader. After the Muzaffarnagar court passed its judgement on the conspirators, Rinkoo, in an interview, said,
  

  It was a brutal attack on March 26, 2009 when bullets were pumped into me and I lost one of my eyes, an ear and damaged my jaw which left me physically handicapped. I had to remain in hospital for months but went on fighting and filed a case. The Muzaffarnagar court convicted those guilty, including the then accountant in the district social welfare office.”

  

  A newspaper cutting about the punishment handed over to the attackers of Rinkoo

• After Rinkoo recovered from his injuries in 2009, he filed an RTI application, asking for the data regarding the disbursement of funds from 2006 to 2009. However, the response he got from the Central Information Commission (CIC) was not satisfactory and Rinkoo decided to hold a protest opposite Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow. In an interview, Rinkoo said,
  

  I wanted to know where the unused funds went. To know the details, I had filed an application under the RTI Act demanding details. I have also asked for details about beneficiaries but did not receive full details. I had also filed an appeal against it.”

• In 2010, Rinkoo Rahee was posted as a District Social Welfare Officer in Bhadohi.

• In 2012, Rinkoo Rahee once again staged a protest against the inactivity of the UP government in cracking down on the culprits of the 2009 Muzaffarnagar scam.

• Failing to persuade Rinkoo to stop his protest, in 2012, the UP Government ordered the UP Police to arrest Rinkoo and admit him to the psychiatric ward. In an interview, he stated,
  

  I was attacked in Mayawati’s regime and during Akhilesh’s regime, I was sent to the psychiatry department because I used to speak against corruption and corrupt practices. I presented facts of the scam before the senior officials of the department, but none of them cooperated. Even information sought under the Right to Information Act has not been provided”

• On 25 March 2012, Rinkoo sat on a one-day hunger strike with the social activist Anna Hazare and even delivered a speech at Jantar Mantar.

• On 26 March 2012, the CIC responded to Rinkoo for only two out of five of his queries. Thus, Rinkoo, once again, went on a hunger strike in Lucknow, demanding the CIC to answer all of his queries, which were listed in his RTI.
  

  A newspaper cutting about Rinkoo Rahee’s hunger strike in Lucknow in 2012

• In 2012, Rinkoo Rahee was posted to Shravasti, Lalitpur and Hapur. Later, he was posted to his hometown, Aligarh, as the Director of the UP Government-run Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar IAS-PCS Before Exam Training Centre in Madrak. Under his leadership, many aspiring candidates successfully cleared their UPSC exams. In an interview, Rinkoo stated,
  

  However, corruption seems to have very strong roots and sways many from the right path. Still, I continued on my way and while teaching students, had a positive energy from them which helped me achieve 683 rank in my 16th attempt (allowed to those physically challenged).”

  

  A newspaper cutting about the successful candidates selected from the IAS PCS Pre-Examination Coaching Center, Madrak

• In 2012, for his continuous protest against the Uttar Pradesh government, Rinkoo Rahee was shunted and transferred to Aligarh following which the Samajwadi Party-led UP Government received criticism from Arvind Kejriwal, who back then was with Anna Hazare, participating in the anti-corruption movement. Arvind Kejriwal accused the UP Government of corruption, murder and assault.

• According to Rinkoo, during his service, he was offered bribes many times. During an interview, he said,
  

  It’s not that temptation didn’t knock on my doors. But I knew that if I ever indulged in nefarious activities, someone else and their child may suffer too.”

• In an interview, Rinkoo revealed that owing to threats to his life, he had shared confidential information related to the corruption cases that he exposed on social media. Rinkoo said,
  

  I have also learnt how to handle these issues in a much better manner. At the time of the attack, all the proof of the scam was with me. So my death would have quickly removed all of the evidence. But now I make all of my observations in a very transparent way and post them on the social media.”

• Since 2012, Rinkoo Rahee has been affiliated with We The People, an organisation that works for the safeguarding and enforcement of the constitutional rights of the people of India.

• In June 2022, Rinkoo Rahee made headlines when he secured 683rd rank in the 2021 UPSC Exams in his 16th attempt. In an interview, Rinkoo Rahee said that before clearing the UPSC examination he used to teach the civil service aspirants, and it was his students who encouraged him to appear for the UPSC examination.