6 yrs on, 3 petty thieves convicted for murder of NHAI whistleblower

A Cover-Up By CBI, Real Culprits Still At Large: Satyendra Dubey’s Brother

Bloody Trail

November 27, 2003: Satyendra Dubey murdered

December 14, 2003: CBI takes over murder probe

September 3, 2004: Files chargesheet against three thieves for murder

March 22, 2010: Fast-track court convicts the trio; quantum of punishment on March 27

In what appears to be a travesty of justice, three petty thieves were convicted of murdering National Highways Authority of India whistleblower Satyendra Dubey, who had exposed corruption in the PM’s Golden Quadrilateral Project in November 2003.

Six years after his murder, a Patna fast-track court on Monday convicted all the three accused in the case. Judge Raghvendra Singh will decide on the quantum of punishment to the three convicts — Mantu Kumar, Udai Kumar and Pinku Ravidas — on March 27.

Dhananjay Dubey, brother of Satyendra, told a news agency that he was ‘‘really disappointed’’ since the three convicted people are ‘‘innocent’’. ‘‘The real culprits are still on the loose. It’s simply a cover-up by CBI. Its statement is totally false,’’ he added.

Satyendra was shot dead on November 27, 2003, in front of the circuit house at Gaya while on a cycle-rickshaw heading for his home from the railway station. He was travelling from Varanasi.

An IIT-Kanpur alumnus, Dubey was sent to Koderma in Jharkhand by NHAI in July 2003. There, Dubey got the contractor of the project to suspend three of his engineers after exposing serious financial irregularities. In fact, Dubey had the contractor rebuild six km of poor quality road, which, in effect, set the road contract mafia against him.

Dubey continued to expose corruption by writing to senior officials. He was transferred to Gaya, which he opposed since he thought his utility there was low compared to his earlier posting. In Gaya, as well, he exposed flouting of NHAI norms in the course of sub-contracting and quality control.

Faced with the possibility of high level corruption, he wrote a letter to then PM A B Vajpayee detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the GQ project. Despite a direct request that his identity be kept secret, the letter with his identity was forwarded to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It’s believed that the letter may have reached the mafia running the highway construction projects in Bihar.

Amid nationwide hue and cry, the CBI took over the investigation of the Dubey murder case from Bihar police on December 14, 2003, and filed a chargesheet on September 3, 2004. During investigation, CBI sleuths arrested four persons, all petty thieves of Katari village in Gaya district. According to the prosecution, they assembled near the Gaya circuit house around 3.30 am on November 27, 2003, and intercepted Dubey. They robbed him and during the scuffle, Mantu shot him dead with a .315 countrymade pistol.

Of the four arrested by CBI, Shravan later turned an approver. A briefcase containing documents belonging to Dubey, including his identity card, was recovered from an abandoned well. The countrymade pistol used in the crime was also recovered by CBI. Mantu was convicted of murder, voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery and the Arms Act. The other two accused were convicted of murder as well. Satyendra’s murder had sparked protests across the country amid calls for a legislation to protect whistleblowers who expose corruption.

Following Dubey’s murder, there has been a degree of public pressure to incorporate a Whistleblower Law.

Source:- The Times of India 23 March 2010 Delhi Page No. 11

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