Three convicted in Satyendra Dubey’s murder case

PATNA - A Patna Court on Monday convicted three accused in National Highway engineer Satyendranath Dubey murder case.

Dubey was a project director at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Patna Additional Judge convicted the three accused-Mantu Kumar, Udai Kumar and Pinku Ravidas for murdering Dubey and said the sentence would be pronounced on Saturday.

On November 27, 2003, Dubey was shot dead in the early hours in front of Gaya Circuit House.

Faced with the possibility of high-level corruption within the NHAI, Dubey wrote directly to the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the project.

While the letter was not signed, he attached a separate bio-data so that the matter would be taken more seriously.

The court convicted accused Mantu Kumar under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (Murder), 394 (Voluntary causing hurt in committing robbery) and 27 (A) Arms Act for possessing unlicensed weapon.

The other two accused were convicted under Section 302/34 (Murder committed in furtherance of common intention) and 394 IPC.

In December, 2003 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took the investigation from Bihar Police and arrested four persons –antu Kumar, Udai Kumar, Pinku Ravidas and Sharvan Kumar, all residents of Katari village in Gaya District of Bihar.

According to CBI, on the night of 27 November 2003, the accused persons robbed Dubey of his belongings and during the ensuing scuffle, Mantu Kumar shot him dead with a .315 country-made weapon.

During the investigation the CBI recovered a briefcase containing documents belonging to Dubey including his Identity card, from an abandoned well.

The investigating agency also recovered the country-made .315 pistol, used for the robbery and murder of Dubey.

Accused Sharvan Kumar gave full and voluntary disclosure about the incident and was made an approver.

Dubey’s murder drew several protests in India and abroad, especially by the media.

Student and Alumni bodies of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)s took the lead in raising this issue.

S. K. Dubey Foundation for Fight Against Corruption was founded in the US by Dubey’s IIT Kanpur batchmates to systematically fight against corruption.

IIT Kanpur instituted an annual award in his name, Satyendra K Dubey Memorial Award, to be given to an IIT alumnus for displaying highest professional integrity in upholding human values.

Dubey was recognised posthumously by several awards, which included the Whistleblower of the year award from the London-based Index on Censorship, the Transparency International’s nnual integrity award and the Service Excellence award from the All India Management Association.(ANI)