The conviction of Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Rs 950-crore fodder scam redeems our faith in the otherwise putrid crime and punishment system. This shows that there is a need of honest bureaucrats such as Commissioner Amit Kumar Jha (who smelt a rat in the fodder business); investigating officers such as Upendranath Biswas, his teammate Samir Ranjan Majumder; prosecutors such as B M P Singh (special Central Bureau of Investigation public prosecutor) and upright judges such as Pravas Kumar Singh (CBI Judge) to trace the powerful culprits, put them on trial and punish them.
We can imagine the kind of allurement and intimidation (including threat to life) these people must have been subjected to. In fact, in the beginning of the investigation in 1996, an effort was made to derail the investigation when Biswas' report was diluted; but he took courage to highlight the fact in the high court to set the course right. The verdict also reminds us that we still have capable public servants in all the organs of the government who can overcome the challenges of any corrupt politician.
Y G Chouksey, Pune
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