On April 7, former telecom Minister A Raja's nephew died of severe heart attack while working out at a gym in Chennai. Pushpanathan Deepak was an engineer by profession and was working for Etisalat DB Company. Here, it is important to observe that Etisalat DB is the telecom company that is being grilled by CBI in gigantic 2G scam which according to CAG cost 1.76 lakh Crore to the country. DB group is owned by Shahid Balwa, who is currently in jail for helping Raja.Though Deepak wasn't a suspect in the case, however CBI had raided his Chennai home in December, 2010 along with Raja and Sadiq Batcha.After Sadiq Batcha, Deepak's death is the second casualty connected to tainted A Raja in high profile 2G case.
Sadiq Batcha, a close aide of A Raja and a prime suspect in 2G case was suspiciously found dead in his bedroom in Chennai on 16th of March. It appeared a suicide but Police didn't overrule the possibility of murder. Sadiq Batcha owned 'Green House Promoters Company' , one of the beneficiaries in the whole 2G debacle. Raja's wife M.A Parameshwari allied the board directors of Green House in 2007.In his suicide letter Batcha said that he could not bear the shame and embarrassment of 2G scam and hence decided to end his life. His death has raised many questions. Is it a suicide or has he been killed by those who were fearing his cracking up before CBI? As Janta Party President Subramanian Swamy puts it, "Suicide and murder will be a part of the 2G investigations as reputations of too many people are involved."Surprisingly, Dr. V Dekal, the doctor who performed Batcha’s autopsy resigned from the government service to fight Tamil Nadu assembly elections. It’s interesting to note that doctor's father was once a member of A Raja's party DMK.
From Police to opposition parties, everybody is expecting something fishy about the sudden deaths but this is not the first time when truth is buried under the graves. There had been many such instances when the sudden mysterious death of a prime accused, witness or the suspect has changed the direction of high profile cases. There are innumerous examples where judiciary became vulnerable in front of 'lack of evidence' factor. Obliquely, this lack of evidence factor arises when a key accused,witness or suspect dies during the investigations taking the justice away along with his own life. Lets throw some light on a few such high profile cases.
Do you remember 1996's Fodder scam? Misappropriations worth 950Cr was observed in Bihar's animal husbandry sector in which Ex CMs Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra were the prime accused. CBI filed 69 cases against 76 accused regarding the scam. Harish Khandelwal was one of those accused.CBI got formal sanction from the governor to prosecute Lalu Prasad in May 1997 and the same day Harish Khandelwal was found dead on railway tracks with a suicide note claiming he was fed up with the CBI grilling him to turn into a witness. Finally, Mishra and lalu were released from the CBI custody because CBI could not prove anything against them due to lack of evidences.
Next in the list is PF scam of Ghaziabad. Ashutosh Asthana, the prime accused in the case was arrested in April 2008. Ashutosh was the treasury officer at Ghaziabad court and was charged for draining off Crores from the PFs of class three and four employees within the span of 7 years from 2001 to 2008. During investigations, CBI found that 36 judges were named by Asthana as beneficiaries. Among those 36 judges there was one Supreme Court judge and three Allahabad Court judges. The charge sheet was filed against 78 people. In November 2009, Asthana was found dead at Dasna District jail. Police claimed it was a heart attack but the doctor who did his postmortem didn't deny the possibility of poison consumption. Even Asthana's brother Shishir alleged murder.
1n 1993, Shashi Nath Jha who was PA to Jharkand Mukti Morcha Chief Shibu Soren, disclosed a deal between JMM and Congress to rescue PV Narasimha Rao government. In May 1994 ,Jha was abducted from Dhaula Kuan and was killed in a jungle in Ranchi. In December 2006 Shibu Soren was given life imprisonment by Delhi Court but this decision was changed by Delhi High Court and Soren was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
As years went by, people forgot about Fodder scam, alleged JMM-Congress deal, and PF scam. After giving a few nightmares to the government,2G scam might also be forgotten soon. But what about the exchequer's money? Most importantly, what about the concealed truth under these graves?We say that the justice delayed is justice denied but what would we call it if justice is being killed?
Penned by-
Anubha Shukla
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