So many Gandhis!

Investigators in Chandigarh are doing a great service to the hoi polloi by letting news photographers accompany them when they open the bank...

Investigators in Chandigarh are doing a great service to the hoi polloi by letting news photographers accompany them when they open the bank lockers and almirahs of the former Punjab Public Service Commission chairman, Ravinder Paul Singh Sidhu, his relations and associates. Except for the staff at the security press at Dewas, how many of them would have seen such large sums of money? Of course, they have heard about the recovery of several crores of rupees from the puja room of a former Union minister but the police at that time did not let photographers come anywhere near the booty. They do not forget the cash-filled suitcases cartoonists drew by the dozen when Harshad Mehta announced that he had handed over a suitcase containing Rs 1 crore to P.V. Narasimha Rao for 8216;8216;lubricating8217;8217; the system. Newspaper columnists had a field day when they argued with all the mathematical precision at their command whether the currency notes amounting to such a large sum could be fitted in an average-sized suitcase. Nobody, not even Mehta8217;s apologists, could demonstrate that a suitcase could indeed be filled with Rs 1 crore, lest it should invite the attention of the taxman.

Now, in the latest instance, nothing is left to the imagination. When five small bank lockers of Sidhu in a private bank in Chandigarh were opened, the vigilance officials counted no less than Rs 8.16 crore. With many more lockers and, possibly, godowns to be searched, the investigators are certain that the final tally of the assets Sidhu has amassed will hit the Rs 100 crore mark. No small achievement for a man who was once on an ordinary newsman8217;s salary, until he was picked up for the prestigious post by the then chief minister. What helped him in his acquisition spree was the availability of currency notes in 500 and 1000 denominations. For many readers of this newspaper who had a close look at the photograph, it must have been the first time they confronted bundles of Rs 1000 notes. They would have only read about the demonetisation of Rs 1000 notes during Indira Gandhi8217;s days and the re-release of these notes a year or so ago. Now they know why the corrupt are so keen on getting paid in such denominations 8212; they are easier to stash them away in cupboards and lockers. In any case, it is certainly not because of any special love for Mahatma Gandhi, whose photograph adorns notes of the bigger denominations, that they demand their booty in terms of a given number of Gandhis. Both the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker know what a 8216;Gandhi8217; means.

Imagine, everyone of those who paid Sidhu the 8216;Gandhis8217; for a job in the government must have by now recouped their losses. They must have even started amassing a fortune the Sidhu way. Searches of their lockers are likely to provide the press excellent photo opportunities too. One shudders to imagine the total amount of money Sidhu, and the hundreds of job-seekers he has obliged, would have amassed. Now, the question: should these people too not be ferreted out and put behind bars? After all, the bribe-giver is as guilty as the bribe-taker, at least in this case.