PICTURE SPEAK

BLEAK CHAPTER: Goswami in happier times

In October last year Gautam Goswami was recognised by Time magazine as one of Asia's young heroes. The magazine cited the relief efforts undertaken by the doctor-turned-bureaucrat during the July 2004 flash floods in Bihar as one of his achievements. Last week, the state police named the former Patna district magistrate (DM) one of the prime accused in a scam in which flood relief funds worth Rs 17 crore were allegedly diverted to a private company. It also launched a nation-wide hunt for Goswami who is on the run. While the state Vigilance Department has named 28 people in the scam, the other prime accused is Santosh Jha, a contractor and political operator who had unsuccessfully contested the February assembly election on an LJP ticket.

SCAM TIMELINE

APRIL 2004 Goswami appointed Patna DM. Hits headlines when he forces the then deputy PM Advani to cut short his speech on the eve of the last general elections. MAY 2004: Government begins routine flood preparations. Santosh Jha, a contractor and political operator, floats a firm to bag tenders. JUNE-JULY 2004 Floods ravage north Bihar; 800 dead. Goswami appointed nodal officer to coordinate relief. SEPTEMBER 2004 Rs 17 crore flows into Jha's fake account. DECEMBER 2004: Goswami quits IAS and joins Sahara Group. APRIL-MAY 2005 The scam is discovered and a probe is ordered. A red-corner alert sounded for Goswami.

Among the five people arrested so far are the then director of the Bihar Small Scale Industries Corporation (BSSIC) which supplied flood relief material, the manager of IDBI Bank in Patna where a fake account was opened to route the money, and the then additional DM of Patna. While there are conflicting reports on Goswami's whereabouts, Jha came out of hiding to surrender before the designated vigilance judge on June 1.

This is not the first time Goswami, 38, an MD from the Banaras Hindu University and a 1991 batch IAS officer, has hit the headlines. On the eve of the Lok Sabha elections last year, he stopped the then deputy prime minister L.K. Advani from addressing an election rally in Patna for crossing the deadline at night for meetings. But in December that year he put the entire machinery of the government under the RJD's command for its rally, which was later called off following the Election Commission's intervention. On December 31, Goswami's decision to quit his civil service post and join the Sahara India Group as senior vice-president even before his resignation was accepted by the government of India raised several eyebrows. "Goswami's resignation was not accepted as it needed vigilance clearance, cadre clearance and also clearance from the Lokayukta," says K.A.H. Subramanian, who retired as chief secretary of Bihar on May 31.

PICTURE SPEAK
WHERE'S THE RELIEF? Flood-hit people of Bihar	IN THE NET: Jha, who was also absconding, finally gave himself up

In April after the scam was unearthed by an audit report and exposed by a daily newspaper, a vigilance probe was ordered. But Goswami maintained everything was clean and on record. He told India Today, "The issue is being blown out of proportion by some bureaucrats because they are jealous of my image and achievements." While few in the IAS fraternity remember him for his administrative skills, he is known to have got plum postings in his 13-year career as a civil servant. In 2003, when a railway recruitment test triggered mob violence in Bihar and Assam, Goswami, as Munger DM, failed to check attacks on Northeast-bound trains in the district, resulting in a flare-up of violence in the state and massive anti-Bihar riots in Assam. Subsequently he was removed by the Rabri Devi Government, only to be posted as Patna DM soon after. During his tenure in Patna, he is alleged to have issued as many as 450 gun licences in nine months.

MODUS OPERANDI

In April 2004, Jha befriends bureaucrats, including Goswami, who is close to Lalu Yadav. Jha floats fake firm BSSIC, a name identical to BSSIC, the state corporation which normally handles relief and rehabilitation work. Money meant for BSSIC lands in Jha's accounts. Officials report quality of relief materials poor, but report ignored. Jha claims his firm is the official supplier to BSSIC but has no papers to prove this. Cheques are issued without physical verification. By the time Goswami quits the IAS to join Sahara, Jha's BSSIC has received Rs 17 crore.

While Goswami's lawyer says his client will seek anticipatory bail very soon and accuses the Bihar administration of going to ridiculous lengths to target Goswami in order to protect the real perpetrators of the scam, Additional Director-General of Vigilance Neelmani says, "All the accused have been found to be involved in the siphoning of government funds meant for relief."

But then the state Vigilance Department is known to be a tool in the hands of the government to fix rivals. Its role during the initial days of the multi-crore rupee fodder scam involving politicians, contractors and bureaucrats had come in for sharp criticism. There is speculation that the ongoing investigation into the flood relief scam too will go the similar way.

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