As a society we are sometimes happy to offer a place of privilege to voyeurism. We watch the drama that sometimes unfolds with pain and suffering endured by others, derive pleasure from it to the extent that we feel superior to the victim (usually claiming a high moral perch for ourselves), and then proceed to construct hypotheses that typically denounce the victim and his associates. These we take to public forums in debates contrived to develop a political stance.
Take the case of the late Sadiq Batcha, a financial associate of former communications minister A. Raja, who is being investigated in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. Mr Raja’s acolyte was found hanging at his home in Chennai earlier this week. He was reported to have been involved in helping launder the bribes allegedly accumulated by Mr Raja in the process of spectrum allocation, and had been questioned by the CBI about these matters. The media was immediately agog with the speculation that the businessman had been murdered, and people who had got rid of him tried to make their misdeed look like a suicide, complete with a suicide note. All this without a shred of evidence, while sitting far away. It is the chattering classes that are typically given to a pastime of this nature. Any number of individuals pontificate on television with an air of self-importance — all saying the same thing with no known objective basis in facts. The cry that went up in this particular instance was that the 2G investigation was now doomed as the man who might have possessed any serious knowledge about Mr Raja’s alleged swindles had been done away with. And who could have had an interest in making this happen? The government, of course. But this is left to the imagination and not spelt out. Which government? Tamil Nadu? Centre? You can take your pick. The puerile purpose, even if not consciously calculated, of all is to make politicians look criminal as a class.
It is to the credit of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy — the man who had first set the cat among the pigeons in the 2G affair — to have not been carried away and maintain in his media appearances that the 2G investigation had not been compromised on account of the tragic exit of Batcha. He held the view that the loss of such a witness would not “fundamentally” ruin the cause of unearthing the wrongdoers, as the authorities were in possession of corroborative material from multiple sources. Ergo, whether the end of the businessman-associate of Mr Raja resulted from suicide or murder was not, strictly speaking, material. Let us be clear. Suicide cannot be ruled out, no matter what some may say. Of course, if it was a murder connected with this case, then those behind the crime could aim to extend similar treatment to other witnesses. For this reason, the investigators — the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate — look to be guilty of not providing protection to a leading witness. This once again calls for having a witness protection programme in place, as in several countries, notably the United States. While the Supreme Court is directing investigations in the 2G case, it could think to crack the whip on the government so that such a programme is introduced on an immediate basis.
The removal of Batcha from the scene is unlikely to be a particularly significant factor as far as the coming Assembly election in Tamil Nadu is concerned. The 2G affair is likely to influence urban middle class voters, and there the matter stands in the view of observers of the scene. But, as we know, usually it takes more than one consideration to shape an electoral outcome.