CBI court to pronounce judgement in Satyendranath Dubey murder case

PATNA - A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Patna will pronounce its judgement in National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) engineer Satyendranath Dubey murder case today.

The court had convicted three accused-Mantu Kumar, Udai Kumar and Pinku Ravidas for murdering Dubey on Monday, and said the sentence would be pronounced on Saturday.

Dubey was a project director with the National Highways Authority of India and on November 27, 2003, shot dead in front of the Gaya Circuit House.

Dubey had written directly to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in which he mentioned financial and contractual irregularities in a NHAI project.

While the letter was not signed, he attached a separate bio-data so that the matter would be taken up more seriously. Mantu Kumar was convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 302 (Murder), 394 (Voluntary causing hurt in committing robbery) and Section 27 (A) of the Arms Act for possessing an 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 over the investigation from Bihar Police and arrested Mantu Kumar, Udai Kumar, Pinku Ravidas and Sharvan Kumar, all residents of Katari village in Bihar’s Gaya District.

According to CBI, on November 27, 2003, the accused robbed Dubey of his belongings and shot him dead with a .315 country-made pistol.

The CBI also recovered a briefcase containing documents belonging to Dubey, including his identity card, from an abandoned well.

The country-made .315 pistol used during the robbery and murder of Dubey was also recovered.

Sharvan Kumar gave a full and voluntary disclosure about the incident after turning 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 the issue.

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

IIT Kanpur instituted an annual award in his name, Satyendra K Dubey Memorial Award, to be given to an IIT alumnus for displaying the 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 Annual Integrity Award and the Service Excellence Award from the All India Management Association. (ANI)