Society & Culture
The CBI’s investigation into the mysterious set of diaries has stalled, despite evidence of widespread corruption among top politicians and bureaucrats. Public-spirited citizens decide it is time to act. Journalist Vineet Narain picks up the story again and makes it a national issue through his video platform. Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani joins the crusade. Anil Divan, a formidable lawyer is approached to take on the public interest litigation, a first-of-its-kind corruption petition. The petitioners want the court to push the CBI to investigate, given the evidence it has. Divan is sceptical about the outcome, but comes on board. The first phase of the litigation plays out. References A list of archival resources used to research this episode can be found here: Excerpts from Vineet Narain’s Kalchakra report Clip from Anil Divan’s interview with Bloomberg TV Excerpts from Justice JS Verma’s interview on the Doordarshan show “Mindscapes: Conversations with Rajiv Mehrotra” News clip about Lalu Prasad Yadav’s resignation sourced from WildFilmsIndia YouTube channel News clip of LK Advani’s press conference from Associated Press Archive Indian Corruption Scandal ScIndia Archive: https://documents.legalarchive.in/static/timeline/#Jain%20Hawala%20Case/AQU Transcript: https://www.anildivanfoundation.org/episode2 Credits: Host: Raghu Karnad Guests: Abani Sahu, Ashok Kumar Panda, Kamini Jaiswal, Justice Mukul Mudgal, Prashant Bhushan, Sanjay Kapoor, Shantonu Sen Research Manager: Ramya Boddupalli Legal Researcher: Vipinn Mittaal and Uday Vir Garg Scriptwriter: Ramya Boddupalli Script editor: Bhavya Dore Fact checker: Vipinn Mittaal Advisors: Lawrence Liang, Ranvir Singh, Shyam Divan and Vivek Divan Head of Production: Shaun Fanthome Creative Director: Mae Mariyam Thomas Production Assistant: Sakshi Nair Sound Design & Mix: Kartik Kulkarni Sound Editor & Music Supervisor: Lakshman Parusuam Graphic Designer: Sephin Alexander