Finally, Satyendra Dubey’s Boss, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways B C Khanduri has broken his silence to say that he is anguished over the murder of ‘‘an extremely honest, good and responsible officer,’’ an officer ‘‘so good that we promoted him recently.’’ ‘‘If you are feeling bad about it, I am feeling much worse,’’ Khanduri told The Indian Express. Indicting the ‘‘law and order problem in Bihar,’’ Khanduri denied that Dubey’s murder had anything to do with the fact that his request for confidentiality was ignored. ‘‘This wasn’t a revenge killing,’’ he said. On what basis could he say this given that the investigation is barely a few days old? Khanduri replied: ‘‘He wrote several letters. What he wrote in the letter to the Prime Minister was of a general nature.He did not name any specific contractor or person. Hence to link the letter to the murder was not correct.’’ When told that he did name specific contractors, Khanduri said the complaints ‘‘pointed to PIL enters SC to protect Dubeys systemic failures’’ and admitted that the ‘‘mafia could be after him.’’ Asked what his stand was on those who let his name be made public despite his specific request, Khanduri said: ‘‘If the letter comes in normal dak, it will be sent out to respective sections. I suspect that is what must have happened in the PMO.He had written his name on a separate sheet of paper wanting it to be kept confidential. Maybe that sheet should have been removed. Since the complaints were of a general nature, it was not done so.’’ Asked what precautions the NHAI was taking to protect its officers in Bihar, he said: ‘‘Law and order is a state subject. Can we put paramilitary force in all our projects?’’ ‘‘That day (the day of his murder) I immediately called up Rabri Devi. I have spoken to her two-three times telling her about our men being abducted, vehicles burnt and mafia asking us for money,’’ he said. But what about Dubey’s complaints specific to NHAI—the way contracts were being granted, the allegedly fraudulent pre-qualification bids—the Minister said: ‘‘It is not as if action was not taken after his letter. In fact, some of the engineers were removed after that. We looked at all the points that he had raised in the letter.’’ ‘‘All the loopholes cannot be plugged overnight,’’ he said. ‘‘I want to improve constantly. We are already acting on all that Dubey pointed out and will continue to do so now,’’ he said. He denied the fact that the Ministry had been callous about his death. ‘‘I spoke to his brother in the village personally. We sent a team headed by a Chief Engineer and two officers to meet his family and to the site to make their own assessment. ‘‘We also decided to help financially but would not like to talk about it,’’ he said. He said he was in constant touch with the DIG, his Secretary with the state Chief Secretary. ‘‘The aim is to trace the culprit and take prompt action.’’ he said.
