Adesh Kumar Rai retweetledi
His name was Lalit Mehta.
He was 36 years old. A civil engineer from Jharkhand who could have worked anywhere. He stayed in Palamu, one of the most corruption ridden districts in the country.
In 1990, he built software. Not for a company. He wrote a programme that made it nearly impossible for government contractors to inflate costs and siphon off public money. He gave it away free.
He built 125 small irrigation dams with local communities at nearly half the government estimated cost. He trained villagers to file RTIs and audit government work themselves.
In May 2008, he began a social audit of NREGA projects in Chatarpur. Out of 108 names on the payment register, only 8 had actually worked. Signatures were forged. Job cards were in the names of people who had migrated. One was in the name of a dead man. An entire 5 lakh rupees pond project was fake.
He compiled everything onto a CD.
He was travelling to meet Jean Dreze the next morning to continue the audit.
He never arrived.
On May 14, 2008, his body was found in the Kandra jungle. A belt around his neck. His face smashed beyond recognition. He was buried as an unidentified body before anyone could reach him. Villagers later identified him from his clothes and exhumed the body themselves.
He is survived by his wife Ashrita Tirkey, whom he married defying caste pressure, and two sons.
His father Jagdish Mehta still holds the CD containing the evidence Lalit died to protect.
No one has been convicted for his murder.
Follow for real stories about people India must never forget.
English
