Dubey, a 31-year-old IIT Kanpur graduate, was project director at the National Highways Authority of India. He was supervising construction of the Golden Quadrilateral near Gaya, Bihar. Over a year ago, he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister's Office and blew the whistle on the contract mafia. He also requested that his name not be made public. But it was not to be, and on November 27, he was murdered.

The murder, first highlighted by The Indian Express, and which ran a campaign to have the culprits arrested, shocked the nation and forced the political class to act. On December 5, the Bihar government said it would request a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the murder. On December 9, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee promised that those responsible for Dubey's death would not be spared.

As things stand now, the CBI has detained just one person -- Pradeep Kumar, a rickshaw puller -- in connection with the case. But there is a long way to go before the case comes to a conclusion. There is also a long way to go before Dubey's dream comes true -- that of a corruption-free India.

Text: Salil Kumar

Truth silenced: S K Dubey's murder