Chandigarh:
Whistleblowing is doubly difficult if the adversary is the same system that is also paying the whistleblower's bills. Ask Raj Kumar, a 46-year-old stenographer in the Chandigarh office of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Mr Kumar found several instances of what appeared to be clear cases of corruption involving some SAI officers over the last seven years. He claimed that officers were inflating bills for sports goods by 400 per cent to 500 per cent and had been doing this for years.
"They are making crores. This practice has been going for the last 20 years. I proved with documentary evidence that there was bungling worth crores," Mr Kumar told NDTV.
His exposes led the Punjab and Haryana High court to order a CBI investigation this year. The SAI filed a review petition, which stalled the case. After that, claims Mr Kumar, instead of being rewarded, his harassment began.
First, he was served a show cause notice by the sports body for "unauthorised absence from duty". Soon after, he got another such notice. Enquiry is pending in all these cases.
Fed up with the harassment, he moved Supreme Court earlier this year. On the same day, the SAI filed a police case saying he was watching pornography on his office computer. The initial police enquiry didn't find anything against him but the case still stands.
And then came the final blow: he was asked to vacate his office accommodation.
SAI officials refused to answer any queries, saying the matter was in the courts. "As far as the departmental inquiry is concerned, it will be according to the directions from higher-ups. Right now there is no inquiry into his allegations of harassment. I have nothing much to say," Susmita Jyotsi, Director in-charge of SAI in Chandigarh said.
Ironically, though Mr Kumar has a lot of sympathy among his colleagues, no one has yet mustered up the courage to support him. But the lone warrior says he will not give up his fight against the corrupt easily.