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Man claiming to be PM’s son’s friend! *Blitz Exclusive* His name is Dr. Gazi Mahabubul Alam, who is the President of Truman’s Farmer Home;is the self proclaimed “class mate” and friend of Tareq Rahman. He is also involved with a fake institution named The International University (TIU), which has very recently forged official documents on Ministry of Education in Bangladesh. It was recently revealed that, this person has forged a number of official documents for The International University, Dhaka Campus and continues to put impression on the US citizen that such documents were genuine. He also gives them the impression that, he is the friend of Prime Minister’s son, Tareq Rahman, andfor being his friend is above all laws in Bangladesh. Frequently he utters the names of influential Bangladeshi ministers and officials including the top figures in country’s intelligence agencies. For past few weeks, Blitz is running investigative reports on the fictitious activities TIU’s Dhaka Campus. Law enforcing agencies are already monitoring the activities of this institution that forged a large number of official documents, which is a serious crime in Bangladesh. When contacted, Chancellor of The International University (TIU) told our reporters that, all such documents were handed over to him by Dr. Gazi Alam. Dr.Alam told the Chancellor of TIU that he had cross checked these documents, and found everything ‘authentic’. But, later, the ministry of education told Blitz that, everything was forged and TIU’s Dhaka Campus was running without any valid document. At this stage, there are two different stories coming in from TIU source. One is saying, Gazi Alam is the man who is behind every forgery. On the other hand, TIU’s USA authorities are putting the blame on Bangladesh campus. The USA office of TIU even threatened the Blitz of dire consequence if the campaign will continue, as their director Dr. Gazi Alam is the classmate and friend of Prime Minister’s son. Our readers are aware that, Blitz never cares to any red eyes of the evils. So, our battle against these notorious elements will continue. We already have gathered the list of people involved with this dubious institution. At their website, names of a large number of Bangladeshi personnel are prominently displayed as faculty members of TIU in Dhaka. They are: Professor (Dr). A.T.M. Tofazzel Hossain, Department of Accounting, Dean of Bangladesh Open University, School of Business, TIU, Professor Mohammad Mohiuddin, Department of Management Studies, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Professor (Dr). Md.Moinuddin Kamal, Chairman, Department of Marketing, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Professor (Dr) A. F. M. Mofijul Islam, IBA, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Professor (Dr). Sadiqul Islam, Department. of Finance & Banking, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Professor (Dr). Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan, Department of Marketing, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Professor (Dr).Salim Bhuiyan, Department of Management Studies, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Manjur-E-Khuda Tarafder, Registrar, Bangladesh Open University, Faculty Member, TIU, Dr. Faruq Ahmed, Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Dr. Mubina khundker, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Dr. Md. Masud Rahman, Associate Professor, Department of Finance & Banking, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Md. Abu Taleb, Associate Professor, Department of Finance & Banking, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Md. Jakir Hossain, Assistant Professor, School of Business, Bangladesh Open University Faculty Member, TIU, Mohammad Masudur Rahman, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Ms. Irene Parveen, Assistant. Professor Department of English, Bangladesh Open University, Faculty-Member, TIU, Mr. Amirul Ahsan, MBA, M.Com, Finance, DU, Assistant Professor, Department of Finance & Banking, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Mohammad Abul Kashem, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Khandokar Mohammad Istiak, Lecturer, Department of Economics, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain, Lecturer, Department of Economics, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Dr. Khalid Hassan, MBA, MMRS, IBA, Dhaka University, Mr. Ezaz Ahmed, MBA, Faculty Member, TIU, Mr. Md. Abdul Majid, MBA, Faculty Member, TIU, Mr. Major (Retd) Md. Abdul Halim, MBA (IBA), Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Mr. Md. Rahmatul Al Azad, BSS (Hons.) M.S.S Economics, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Mr. Md. Afzal Hossain Mollah, BSS (Hons.) MSS Economics, Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Major Md. Abdul Halim (Retd), MBA (IBA), Dhaka University, Faculty Member, TIU, Md. Shoaib, Lecturer, Dept. of Institute of Information Technology Dhaka University Faculty Member, TIU, Probir Kumar B.Sc M.Sc in Computer Science University of Madras, India, Faculty Member, TIU, Dibakar Sanyal, BSc (Hons.) & MSc in Physics(DU), MCP, MBA, Faculty Member, TIU, Dr. Selina Akhter Jahan, Associate Professor, Department of English, Bangladesh Open University, Former Deputy Director, NAEM, Faculty-Member, TIU, Mr. Debasish Biswas, Currently, Research Fellow, English Department, Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada, Faculty-Member, TIU and Nasreen Begum, Joint Secretary (Drafting), National Legal Aid Service Organization, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Faculty Member, TIU. Now here is another part of the mystery! All the people in TIU are putting the word ‘Dr’ at the beginning of their names, including the so-called Chancellor of this fictitious institution. We have checked with many universities in the United States, and did not find the name of ‘Stephen Barnhart’ as someone receiving doctorate degree. Commenting on such degrees, an educationist in USA told Blitz, these are bunch of corrupt people rallying doctorate degrees around the world to befool innocent people. Such degrees are fake and useless. In fact, the so-called ‘Dr’ Stephen Barnhart is the leader of such fraud rings, who are cheating innocent people with the ‘carrots’ of high sounding degrees. It was also not possible to see the academic back ground of ‘Dr. Gazi Mahabubul Alam’ as well. It is apprehended that he too has purchased or had been rewarded a doctorate degree by the people in TIU as decoration to his name. Commenting on TIU-USA, a senior journalist in Bangladesh said, US government needs to take immediate steps to stop any fraudulent institution in doing business overseas and cheating innocent people. The official web site of this institution is filled with lies and lots of funny and false documents. He said, it is quite surprising to witness that, US government is silent about the activities of such institutions. He also asked Bangladesh government to immediately take necessary actions against such fake institutions. Tareq Rahman should take note of such fraudulent activities by people using his name, said a professor of Dhaka University. Commenting of ‘Dr’ Gazi Mahabubul Alam, who claims to be a classmate and friend of Tareq Rahman (son of Bangladeshi Prime Minister), the DU professor said, even if Gazi Alam is a friend of PM’s son, he should not be above the law of the land. Tareq Rahman had repeatedly requested people to notify him if someone is using his name for any illegal activities. Now, the issue of Gazi Alam is a known one. Blitz has published several news items on this man. Many other international newspapers including Thailand’s prestigious The Asian Tribune has also published news items on him. Blitz has officially notified the Education Minister and other officials in the government and law enforcing agencies on the dubious activities of TIU and Gazi Mahabubul Alam. Now, Tareq Rahman should become aware of this issue because it relates to his good reputation. If he will be reluctant in taking any action(s), it would ultimately encourage others in doing the same thing. After investigating the status of The International University (TIU), a highly placed source in US said, that the TIU is not even State Licensed in Missouri, USA. It claims to be a religious entity, thus bypassing all required licensing laws. It is a common ploy used by degree mills. It is not recognized or licensed by the Missouri Office of Higher Education. It is only allowed to offer religious degrees that are all. And, of course, it is not accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the US Department of Education. The source terms TIU as a real non-entity. On investigating the website of The International University, we found several irregularities in it. Moreover, we received several information on Robert Ray Hills. According to the facts, in November 2004 Robert Hill first appeared on the internet, looking for an easy ‘life experience’ PhD. He was written back and told that there is no such thing as life experience degrees, and you need to do it the hard and normal way. He then went fishing and he tries to defend his new Masters degree from Robert de Sorbon, a French degree mill, obtained in November 2004. Not content with that, he was desperate for a PhD, so he got an honorary one at Cosmopolitan University http://www.cosmoedu.net/hclistGI.html Not content again with that, between December 2004 and, giving him the benefit of the doubt, in January 2006 he ‘earned’ a DBA from IUFS in 1 year. Any real DBA is earned in no less than 2.5 min, up to 3.5 years is normal. He has refused the repeated request to provide a copy of his dissertation which he must have written to get the degree. His PhD is assumed, is either also from IUFS or most probably from WIDU. Whatever the case, its all baloney; two research postgraduate degrees in a year! Robert Ray Hill has an extreme case of credentialism and desire for titles to feign some form of respectability. It is this form of activity which could be termed as ‘academic terrorism’, degrading the real value of postgraduate qualifications to feed his own egotistical desires. Regarding TIU’s obtaining the HEIR Registry – it was revealed that many degree mills got themselves listed there and pretended to have UNESCO approval. The site was a free for all, so it had to be closed, that is why the database is closed, due to abuse. Most surprisingly, TIU-USA now endorses that their Dhaka Campus was on the process of obtaining new approvals, which evidently prove that all the approvals shown by TIU-Dhaka are fabricated and falsified. Meanwhile, we have received the copy of an email from Robert Ray Hills to ‘Dr’ Leland Minton Goldblatt dated 19^th November 2004. In the email, Robert Ray Hills wrote: “Sir, I read your posts with regards to Degree Info. I have a question I would like to ask you if I may. In your professional opinion is it appropriate to inquire about an honorary degree? I am a mid career Professional with 25 years professional. Further I would like to think I have made a difference. I find it interesting if one donates large sums of money, is a public celebrity or politician that they would be considered but the average person who has made contributions to society are omitted. Please give me your opinion. I tried to email you directly but the mail was returned.” In this email message, Robert Ray Hills introduced himself as an ‘Ordained Minister’. It is understood from this message that, this man had been fishing honorary doctorates for quite some time. Weekly Blitz will continue to investigate many more irregularities of TIU and its branches in countries, and will expose their fraudulent games in following issues.
Part III: Does Hamas-Like Surprise Await Bangladesh? Why is Al-Queida in Nepal? *Dr. Richard L. Benkin writes from USA* This is the final of three articles by Dr. Richard L. Benkin on the potential threat of an Islamist takeover in Bangladesh. In late 2001, the US military expelled Al-Qaeda forces from Afghanistan and destroyed the terror group’s infrastructure and base of operations. When they fled to Pakistan’s tribal belt, Pakistani forces loyal to strongman General Pervez Musharaf disrupted their comfortable network of hiding places there. While Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization responded in part by de-centralizing, the group still needed a safe base of operations. But with Afghanistan crawling with coalition forces, Pakistan no longer a safe haven, and the US in the Middle East with its eyes, at least, on Islamist Iran where might that be? As early as 2004, a US embassy official in Kathmandu commented, “Al-Qaeda's nest in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been destroyed. The birds are looking for a new home,” and suggested that Nepal might be that home. The official’s muses were based in part on a growing state of turmoil in the tiny nation, which he believed made Nepal an easy mark for the Islamists. When King Gyanendra seized absolute power on February 1, 2005, things got even worse. He said he took the action in order to defeat Maoist rebels whose violent insurgency had already claimed over 13,000 victims, but his action sparked a year of street clashes involving a plethora of different groups from human rights activists to leftists seeking to replace the monarchy with a communist dictatorship. With continuous street violence and the government fighting to maintain its power base, border control was non-existent, and the warnings of that US official seemed prophetic. On April 20, 2006, the king ceded the powers he grabbed; but by early 2006, the Indian intelligence service reported that Al-Qaeda terrorists were operating in several Nepalese towns. “Faced with grave internal crisis, Nepal provides the kind of environment that suits a terrorist outfit like the Al-Qaeda.” Now what is particularly interesting about Al-Qaeda setting up house in Nepal is the fact that Nepal is 89 percent Hindu and most of the rest of its people are Buddhist. This hardly qualifies Nepal as the next Islamic republic. Moreover, Al-Qaeda first made its name fighting communists, and its own fundamental Islam is diametrically opposed to Maoism’s enforced atheism. Nepal is only a way station; the alliance with the left only a temporary marriage of convenience. Continuing the line from Afghanistan through the mountains of Pakistan, then terrorist-controlled Kashmir and across the Indian-Chinese frontier into Nepal; leads to Al-Qaeda’s real, Shangri La: the world’s third largest Muslim country, Bangladesh. Bangladesh is uncomfortably conducive to an Islamist takeover. The country is a democracy, consistent with the wishes and traditions of its people, but the Islamists intend to use the democratic process to assume power and then destroy it. (This is nothing new. Adolph Hitler set the example by declaring his totalitarian terror-state after securing power by manipulating Germany’s democracy in 1933.) National elections are scheduled for January and while Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States, Shamsher M. Chowdhury, hews the government line that “the Islamists are weak,” facts predict a far different outcome. The current government correctly touts figures that demonostrate it has had some success in fighting poverty, but figures also show that the country remains one of the poorest in the world. More importantly, massive sections of the electorate experience ongoing lives of economic privation. Infrastructure is inconsistent at best even in the capital, primitive in many cases; and the nation always finds itself judged as the first or second most corrupt country in the world by every international survey. That same combination of crushing poverty and endemic corruption helped propel Hamas to power through elections in the Palestinian territories. It has also powered Islamist gains in North Africa (Muslim brotherhood) and elsewhere in the Muslim world. On top of that, Bangladeshi Islamists have something their counterparts did not. They already are part of the government, and they have become major power brokers in determining whether the ruling Bangladesh National Party (BNP) or its rival Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) will form the next government. With national elections looming, the BNP’s unwillingness to alienate the Islamists has fueled many government decisions, something that several unnamed and highly placed Bangladeshi officials have admitted privately on several occasions. Large portions of the population remain unsatisfied with the performance of both major parties, and current BNP-BAL squabbling over the upcoming elections is eroding popular support for the major parties further. Day by day, the Islamist option becomes more attractive to voters. The 2006 Palestinian elections provided Al-Qaeda and their allies with a blueprint for a bloodless takeover. When existing political blocs and the government are tainted with corruption and ineffectiveness, the Islamist brand of religious fundamentalistm seems pristine, as does its rhetoric. Palestinian voters, for example, chose to ignore Hamas’s anti-peace platform, choosing instead to grasp at what they hoped was a lifeline to save them from a corrupt and chaotic regime. Of course, their lives are far worse for that choice, and it can only be hoped that Bangladeshis will not repeat their mistake. But Bangladesh Islamists do not even have to command the largest number of votes. A strong showing could give them sufficient power to demand a major portfolio—and given their stated aim of replacing current Bangladeshi law with Sharia (Muslim law), it is not out of the question that they would demand the Law Ministry in exchange for their support. A Muslim with extensive knowledge of the law, explained the real significance of such a move. Implementing Sharia, he said, does not require changing the law itself. It can be done administratively by instructing judges and prosecutors that no specific law can be enforced without first making sure it does not conflict with Sharia. The Law Minister can do that. What would that mean for Bangladesh’s religious minorities, all but the most orthodox Muslims, and independent women—even the Prime Minister and opposition leader? Events in May further strengthen suspicions of an Islamist takeover. The post-violence search by the press, government officials, and the “Bangladeshi street” for conspiracies might be a common knee-jerk reaction there; but there is some substance to what one official called “a vested quarter at home and abroad planned the ransacking of garment industries to create an anarchic situation,” as reported in Weekly Blitz. Bangladeshis seem afraid to say whom that “vested quarter” with bases both in Bangladesh and abroad might that be. But only the Islamists (including their allies in the ruling coalition) satisfy the domestic/international criterion and have a history of using violence in Bangladesh to promote their agenda. They are also the only force—at home and abroad—that benefits from the recent violence. Last year, Bangladesh experienced a wave of terror bombings by Islamists intended to force the nation to implement Sharia (Muslim law) as the law of the land. Regardless of the rationale or the perpetrators, continued violence works against the sitting government and opens the door for a force that claims to have “the answer” to emerge. Radical Islam has been posed as the answer openly elsewhere and less openly in Bangladesh. At first, some people wondered if the recent violence was the beginning of a takeover by a foreign power, through a state of emergency, or by leftists. With the sudden stop in the violence, it is clear that was not the case. That drop, preceded by a sudden eruption, follows the same pattern taken by last fall’s terror attacks, which have not been repeated since. If social unrest and violence erupts periodically from now until the January elections, it would be foolhardy not to look for Islamist hands behind it. And the violence might allow them to achieve their goals by manipulating voter sentiment An Islamist power grab in Bangladesh, while a distinct possibility, is not inevitable. The country has been holding elections judged fair by international monitors, and its leaders have made it clear that they see their nation’s interest as lying in cooperation with the United States to defeat radical Islam. Radical Islam, moreover, is inconsistent with the Bangladeshi people’s traditional faith. And it should not be forgotten that Bangladesh has substantial religious minorities, especially Hindu. A takeover by radical Islamists could provoke Indian intervention to save that population, or (open or clandestine) action by China concerned about Islamist support for their counterparts who have been fighting a terror war in China’s western provinces. Perhaps the best chance of preventing foreign Islamists from taking over Bangladesh comes from cooperation with the United States. Trade concessions, security cooperation, aid and technology all can help improve the lives of ordinary Bangladeshis and turn their daily experience of their government into positive one. Unfortunately, when Bangladeshi Home Minister Lutfuzzamen Babar visits the US in June, American leaders are more likely to focus on his government’s human rights violations and their policy of appeasing Islamists. One of their top agenda items will be the admittedly false sedition charges against Blitz editor, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. Several members of Congress have been following the case for months and have previously expressed their concerns over this attack on press freedom and the brutal mistreatment of this man. Even though the government has had insufficient evidence to proceed against Choudhury more than two and a half years after charging him with the capital offense; it has squandered the goodwill it was starting to build with the Americans, even getting caught lying to US lawmakers. The only rationale for such counterproductive decisions is fear of Islamist reaction. The Islamists have made their intentions clear in words and actions. In country after country and now in Bangladesh, they have not scrupled about sacrificing innocent victims to advance their platform. History has shown that it is best to take them at their word, something that Bangladeshis experienced first hand last year with their wanton murder of innocents in a string of terrorist bombings. We know that they have been buying influence over the public through their network of madrassas (schools), key positions at the nation’s universities, major media (print and broadcast), and attaining positions of influence among government workers and the police. All of it has been building toward an electoral surprise in January that would spell the end of Bangladeshi freedoms. And if all of that planning and manipulation was not enough, they now have established themselves in Nepal from where they can slowly infiltrate foreigners to stuff the ballot boxes, as we say in the United States, and add their illicit vote count to the Islamists. In Muslim countries like Azerbaijan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, and elsewhere, Islamist shock troops have been invading to force the populations to accept their twisted interpretation of a great religion. From Afghanistan to Pakistan to Kashmir to Nepal, they are slithering closer to Bangladesh where they can join their brothers who have been mixing distortions of truth (media and madrassas) with their specialty, terror. If they make gains in January, expect their terrorist brethren to make their presence felt in Bangladesh with the intention of subverting Bangladeshi democracy. What is Al-Queida doing in Nepal? Waiting for their chance to pounce on democratic Bangladesh. Continued appeasement by the BNP and the BAL’s virtual hands-off policy toward them are both helping the Islamists realize their dream of taking the world’s seventh largest country.
Name the lazy ministers *Sohail Choudhury* There had been a small piece of news in UAE’s Gulf News. According to the story, a Bahraini newspaper on recently said it would start this week publishing the names of the members of parliament who deliberately miss sessions. The paper cited growing public consternation about high levels of absenteeism in the Council of Representatives (lower house). Al Ayam, Bahrain's largest daily, attributed the decision to "the mounting carelessness of increasingly lazy MPs who were getting fat salaries, but not assuming their responsibilities." "We have noted that many MPs no longer attend the meetings of parliamentary committees and do not bother to show up at the sessions devoted to crucial issues," Al Ayam's editor-in-chief Eisa Al Shaygi told reporters. "It is unfortunate that as the current four-year parliament term is coming to a close, many of the MPs are also severing ties with the people by closing their weekly majlises." Al Shaygi said the decision of the newspaper to publish the names of the MPs, unprecedented in Bahrain, was an expression of frustration felt by common people angry at the doublespeak of the representatives they elected in 2002. "Many MPs keep claiming everywhere that they are devotedly looking after the interests of the people, defending their rights and conveying their concerns and aspirations. They are often believed because the people do not know who takes part in the parliamentary sessions," Al Shaygi said. The newspaper now hopes that publishing the names will help voters better assess the contributions of their representatives. No doubt, what the Bahraini newspaper is planning to do is a part of good journalism. Can we also not name those lazy, worthless or even corrupt ministers and MPs in our own country? Possibly we could. But, what would be the minimum impact of such exposure? We have experienced in 36 years of our independence, our beloved country had been very unfortunately always been ruled by many worthless people, and each time, almost all the governments did have some lazy and many corrupts in their team. During Ershad’s autocracy, we heard several names that got the titles of ‘Thief of Baghdad’, because they virtually got into looting the wealth of Bangladesh, using their power. Name anyone in Ershad’s cabinet except only one or two. All of them became millionaires through limitless corruption. During that time, not only the ministers and MPs, but relatives and girl friends of the military dictator accrued fabulous wealth through illegal ways. Although there had been several corruption charges, did anyone except the ‘poor’ Ershad faced convictions? No, because our entire system possibly tries everything to protect the worst corrupts and punishes the small fries. When Ershad’s regime was over, everyone expected that now some good people would govern the nation. But, in reality, a fresh team of looters emerged in our political play ground, and had been screwing the entire nation and looting its wealth even more desperately. And to talk about the lazy figures in the present government? That is not even a small one. We can just mention several names like Altaf Hossain Chowdhury (minister without portfolio), Abdul Matin Chowdhury (minister without portfolio), Alamgir Kabir (state minister without any work), Barkatulla Bulu (state minister without any work), Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku (state minister without any work), Khurshid Zahan Haque (minister sick for more than a year), Advocate Gautam Chakravarty (state minister without any work) and many others. Do we know, for each of these figures, the nation has to spend more than 10 million taka each year just for their ‘protocol’ and ‘other privileges’? And, go to their offices. Most of the time they are ‘busy’ is chatting with people, drinking cups of tea, reading newspapers, and finally giving nothing to the nation. Virtually the offices of these ministers and state ministers have turned into VIP clubs. Just take this partial list into consideration and imagine how much of public money is being drained just for keeping these party men smiling! Does the chief executive of the country realize this fact? We can say with certainty, Bangladesh does not need a cabinet of 65 members for good governance. Rather, such a huge cabinet is always busy in internal feud and cock fight. Good governance can only be attained with effective people, and of course, not more than 30 to take care of all the ministries. A gigantic cabinet is always a huge burden on the nation.
Unaccounted money deposits also in Advani’s name! *Vikas Jain reports from India* The Weekly Blitz had blasted the lid off of a scam in huge stashes of unaccounted (black) money parked in Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDR) in banks in the names of India cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin in its May 31 issue. A follow-up of the report now discloses that the Income Tax sleuths had, in January 1996, in a series of raids conducted on businessman Chandanmal Sanghavi’s residence at Islampur seized FDRs also made in the names of L. K. Advani, who was then Union Minister for Home, leviathan sums; several million rupees, were deposited in the Ratnakar Bank Ltd (RBL) by Sanghavi who headed also the Mahavir Path Darshan Charitable Trust. FDRs in other names recovered, included that of Test cricketer of yesteryear, Ravi Shastri. Islampur is about 200 kms from Pune, near Kolhapur. The Ratnakar Bank Ltd has its Admn Office at Shri. Shahu Market Yard. Kolhapur, India. It was established in 1943. The CEO is Anil Patil. Total Deposits exceed INR. 34 million; total advances are about INR 17 million. Investment is about INR 15 million. The total turnover 1998-1999 was Rs. 510 million. Chandanmal was a Director of the RBL. The episode, which reeks of corruption at the highest levels, was discreetly swept under the bureaucratic carpet – until the Weekly Blitz sniffed it out! The Press in India seem to have been muzzled. Babulal Srimal (52), who has on-going dispute with Chandanmal’s son, Dr. Suresh Sanghavi about a flat deal gone sour, had notified the then PM, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee as well as L. K. Advani by his letter of December 13, 2000. Sirmal, has been persistently knocking on the doors of the Fourth Estate – the big fish and the minnows – but has made no headway. “I am disillusioned to find that the Indian media are all funks ! Since they depend for their very existence on advertisement revenue from the government and moneyed gentry, why should they upset the apple-cart?” Srimal shrugged. “There is a football mania going on in Germany you know. The world is gripped with it. But, our police, politicians and bureaucrats can give Ronaldo lessons in dribbling, passing and dodging which he could never have ever dreamed off !” , his son, Roshan, laughed bitterly. Roshan, then a minor, was not only detained in the Crime Branch office, which is in the Police Commissioner’s office building, but is witness to his father being abused and brutally beaten by police inspector Ghodke of the Crime Branch, when Srimal stubbornly refused to hand back to Sanghavi keys of his flat he had purchased (from Sanghavi) as the brutal cop had demanded that he do. Shobha, wife of Kantilal Bhandari, who was also there, urged the sadistic police office to beat Srimal even more. Kantilal is a top-notch real estate broker, whom Srimal has named also in his complaints to the police. Instead of redressing his grievances, even now, the police are trying to force Srimal into an amicable “compromise” with Sanghavi ! The Sanghavis and their associates have reportedly landholdings in the Pune and Kolhapur regions worth more than INR 1000 millions. “But, these are wealthy people”, reflects Roshan. “The cops dare not touch them. This is now our tradition. The rich get away scot-free. The underdog and those unable to grease palms or have no contacts with the powers-that-be are used as punching bags, victimized and denied even the shadow of justice or equity!” Several queries dog the facts: Are the FDRs in names of L.K. Advani and other prominent persons indeed fake ? (It is an open secret that politicians of all hues, film actors, corrupt bureaucrats, cops, industrialists and the underworld, have their unaccounted (black) money laundered by their touts and front-men). Without checking the bona fides of the parties, why had the bank issued FDRs for cash deposited totaling more than a billion rupees? Why have the IT department, Economic Offences Wing and other parodies of Investigating Agencies been impotently inactive for the last 10 years, never daring to take action, despite Srimal providing them with specific information; even documentary proof of such frauds, deceptions and serious white-collar crimes ? Why are Commissioner of Police (Pune) D. N Jadhav and Director General of Police (Maharashtra), Dr. P. S. Pasricha giving Srimal the short shrift; ignoring his complaints with enviable determination, unless there is more behind their willful lethargy than meets the eye ? On May 30, CP Mr. Jadhav had issued written orders to the PI of Maharishinagar Police Chowkey to “record Srimal’s statement afresh and register it as the First Information Report (FIR) within 24 hours.” Has Jadhav’s watch stopped ticking, as a fortnight since has passed but his 24 hours deadline has not? With the police having miserably failed in doing their bounded duty as law enforcers, why has the Central Bureau of Investigation or the State (CID) not taken up the investigation, especially since eminent people like L. K. Advani, Sachin Tendulkar are involved? Or, is it more likely that this ostrich-like stance is being taken deliberately only to avoid further embarrassment to all concerned? Are the Congress and the Bhartiya Jhanta Party two sides of the same coin, with a tacit agreement to protect each others pecuniary interests, while enacting a well rehearsed soap-opera, successfully fooling the people all the time? Why have statements of L. K. Advani, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ravi Shastri and others not been recorded by the IT department until date, when the FDRs in their names were detected a decade ago ? Will citizens like Srimal, who are fighting for their rights against stupendous odds staked against them, ever succeed? Or, will the poisonous fumes of a mock democracy cruelly exhaust, maim and smother their hopes with callous indifference? With the specter of corruption looming large in every sphere of (non) activity in the country, these questions may never be answered!