NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to Abhishek Upadhyay who claimed he was vindictively booked under SC/ST Act by Ghaziabad police for an alleged road rage incident just because he had exposed embezzlement of donations offered by devotees at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Pradeep Rai told a bench of CJI Surya Kant that Upadhyay was the whistleblower and the first to report the alleged misappropriation of monies donated by devotees at the Ayodhya temple.He said since UP Police is vindictive, investigations into the alleged road accident case lodged against him coupled with charges under SC/ST Act should be transferred to an independent agency such as CBI or Delhi Police.Rai complained that police are yet to furnish a copy of the FIR and CCTV camera footage of the alleged accident involving his vehicle and a two-wheeler to the petitioner who is accused of hurling caste-based abuses at the two-wheeler rider after the accident.

The bench issued notice to Ghaziabad police and said that “no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner in the FIR registered at Indirapuram police station, or any such subsequent FIR that may be registered against him in relation to the allegations.”

Asking police to furnish a copy of the FIR to the petitioner to enable him to take remedial steps in accordance with the law, the bench said, “As soon as a copy of the FIR is received by the petitioner, he shall be at liberty to approach the jurisdictional high court for seeking relevant relief.”