Satyendra Dubey was murdered in Gaya, Bihar on 27th Nov 2003 for fighting corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project - he was a project director at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He found malpractices in awarding of contracts, quality of construction, payments to contractors and many other avenues in NHAI. He took it to the higher people in NHAI and got no response. He even wrote to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee highlighting the impropriety and pleaded to not reveal his identity. Alas, his identity was revealed to NHAI which reprimanded him for writing to Prime Minister directly.
I'm not entirely sure of the sequence of events, but he was killed on Nov 26th, 2003. A very said end to a bright [ Civil Engineering IIT Kanpur, 90-94 and MTech Civil, IIT BHU Varanasi 94-96] and brave soul, that stood up against corruption. India didn't have whistleblower policy back then and it does now thanks to people like you. Although the implementation of the bill in it's true spirit by the government is an entirely different matter, it's very existence can offer glimmer of hope and courage to others who may want to fight against the malice in the community.
Inspiration to write this blog post: The Hindu
"You would have been scared that first day at the IIT, wondering how you, a village boy from Bihar, would cope with all the fancy boys and girls from the metros. You would have been scared when the road mafia issued you death threats, or when the fact that you wrote to the Prime Minister was revealed despite your plea to keep your identity under wraps…The point is not that you were scared. Courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about doing the right thing despite being scared. And that is something you did with aplomb right through your short life.
You showed us the way by doing the right thing. In an age where someone can become a hero merely by knowing how to swing a cricket bat or emote on screen, you were the real deal; a bona fide hero. You remain our inspiration. The generations to come will feel your influence."
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