The mysterious death of Indian Administrative Service officer DK Ravikumar has yet again brought to light the harsh reality of deep rooted corruption in India. While investigations are underway into his mysterious death, questions have been raised over how safe are the officers who have the courage to take on the corrupt and the mafias.
Here is a look at some of the bright, young and upright officers who paid a heavy price for their honesty and hard work.
- Satyendra Dubey: A project engineer of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Satyendra Dubey, had exposed several cases of large-scale flouting of rules and corrupt practices in the construction project. He was gunned down in the early hours of November 27, 2003 in front of the Circuit House in Gaya when he was going to his residence after alighting from a train from Varanasi. Dubey had even written directly to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the construction project. Dubey had requested his name be kept secret but at the same time, he let his identity known but his request for anonymity was apparently ignored by the PMO. On November 11, 2002 the PMO received his letter and just a year later, he was shot dead on November 27, 2003.
- Shanmugam Manjunath: An IIM Lucknow alumnus of the 2003 batch, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) Sales manager Shanmugam Manjunath was murdered on November 19, 2005, by petrol pump owner Monu Mittal and his accomplices in Uttar Pardesh. The 27-year-old was shot dead for exposing petrol adulteration racket at Mittal's petrol pump in Lakhmipur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. In March 2007, Monu Mittal alias Pawan was awarded death sentence while seven others were sentenced to life by the District Sessions Judge Lakhimpur Kheri SMA Abidi.
- Yashwant Sonawane: Additional Collector Yashwant Sonawane was set on fire by the petrol mafia in Nashik on January 26, 2011. He was on his way for a meeting with his assistant and his driver when he noticed tankers and drums of oil at near a dhaba. The officer asked some uncomfortable questions after which the offenders brutally set him on fire.
- Narendra Kumar Singh: The 30-year-old IPS officer was allegedly mowed down by a tractor-trolley on Thursday in Morena in Madhya Pradesh when he tried to stop the vehicle carrying illegally mined stone. When the tractor did not stop, the IPS officer stood in front of the vehicle in order to bring it to a halt. But the tractor driver identified as Manoj Gurjar instead of stopping the vehicle, sped and hit the officer, crushing him under the wheels. Bihar cadre IPS Officer Singh was posted at Banmore as Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) and during his brief tenure, he had taken on the mining mafia head-on by seizing number of trucks and tractors engaged in illegal mining in the area.
- R Vineel Krishna: IAS officer R. Vineel Krishna was abducted by Maoists on February 16, 2011 in Odisha's Malkangiri district. Krishna was abducted by armed Maoists just a few hours after bringing electricity to Siliguma. The incident occurred near Janta Pai village, one of 389 villages "cut off" from the rest of the district by the reservoir of the Balimela hydropower project.
- Neeraj Singh: A mob of over 150 people had tried to set ablaze District Supply Officer Neeraj Singh in Dehgava village after he sealed a fair price shop selling adulterated kerosene. The incident took place when on a tip off the DSO raided fair price shop owner Girish Chandra's house and found him mixing kerosene with diesel. Finding this, the officer sealed the shop of Girish. However, while returning, he was surrounded by a mob including women, which tried to set him afire by sprinkling kerosene on him.
- DK Ravikumar: IAS officer Ravikumar was found hounging from a ceiling fan under mysterious circumstances at his residence in Bengaluru. While police is indicating it to be a suicide, there was no note found in his room. Ravi during his tenure in Kolar, took on the sand mafia and had put an end to it. When the local police showed reluctance to prevent the powerful sand mafia, he himself led the operation against them risking his personal safety. The same sand mafia allegedly got him transferred to Bengaluru leading to protests across Kolar district for weeks. He had raided several big real estate groups with close political connections and had confiscated the encroached government land. He had declared that he would even go to jail to save the public land.
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