Hiten Run

Is justice delayed justice denied? Perhaps no as after six long years, Justice S N Variava, adjudicating the securities scam, has finally sentenced stock broker Hiten P Dalal and a former official of Canara Bank Financial Services S Mohan for seven years of rigorous imprisonment for siphoning off around Rs 33 crore from Canfina, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canara Bank.

8220;It was time to convey the message that though delayed, justice is bound to follow,8221; Justice Variava said while pronouncing the order. For six years, Mumbaikars were appalled to see that most of the accused in the scam were moving scot-free in the metropolis, visiting the courts during the day and the pubs at night. And when they had almost forgotten about the Big Bull and his famous Lexus, the Special Court judgement has come as a whiff of fresh air.

The 1992 securities scam had created history for its sheer magnitude. It eroded the confidence of small investors in the Bombay Stock Exchange. Thanks to the scam, investors were left with worthless papers as wealth. It is, therefore, heartening to see that it is finally pay-back time for the scamsters. After years of probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI has filed more than 20 chargesheets in the Special Court and it is expected that the investigating body will have enough evidence to back its charges. Mumbaikars would certainly like to see that the over Rs 3,500 crore siphoned off from the public sector banks and financial institutions is restored to them. Also, Dalal8217;s conviction, everybody hopes is just the beginning. The end would be when the other accused, the bigger fish, would be brought to book.