Robbing Dubey

The dead share no secrets but the murdered often leave behind clues. In narrowing Satyendra Dubey8217;s killing to a case of petty robbery, the Central Bureau of Investigation seems to have resolutely ignored those clues. When Dubey, then a National Highway Authority of India project manager working on the Golden Quadrilateral programme, was killed on November 27, he had in effect already drafted the terms of reference of an inquiry into his death. He had blown the whistle on misappropriation of funds and circumvention of due procedure in the execution of the prestigious project. Before he was murdered near Gaya railway station that November night, he had already expressed fear, in writing, that his life was in certain danger.

In the chargesheet in the case filed on Friday, the CBI has neatly separated Dubey8217;s death from the wider matrix in which he was engaged. By the investigating agency8217;s account, it would seem that the IIT engineer8217;s murder is a simple case of petty robbery. When he alighted off a train in Gaya, he was in possession of Rs 4,000. He was waylaid by hoodlums, the money was seized, and in the ensuing scuffle he was killed. This neat theory, however, has already unravelled. This week8217;s chargesheet is already tripping on loose ends. There are, first, the suicides of two persons questioned by the Bureau early this year. There is, second, the missing rickshaw-puller, Pradeep Kumar, the first eyewitness produced in the case, who disappeared soon after his statement was recorded. The CBI seems to have expunged all this from the Dubey probe to produce an open-shut case of robbery-inspired murder.

In his last months, Dubey was driven by a sense of responsibility to alert his superiors to what he alleged was serious wrongdoing in NHAI. He appeared to be aware, even apprehensive, that deliberate leaks of his allegations could place his life in danger. Therefore, a wider, more sincere investigation would not just be a deterrent and give courage to potential whistleblowers that their safety will not be compromised. It would actually be the logical investigation into the engineer8217;s death. The CBI has an honourable tradition of being high on chargesheets, pathetically low on conviction. That8217;s why until the agency diligently probes every line of inquiry stemming from Dubey8217;s letter to the prime minister8217;s office, it will not invite even an iota of confidence.