Whistleblower gunned down in Bihar

An employee of the postal department was gunned down by unidentified armed assailants in Nalanda, the home district of former chief minister Nitish Kumar, for raising the issue of irregularities in appointments.

Sources quoting the victim’s relative said around five assailants barged into the house of Ram Naresh Pandey under Hilsa police station and fired upon him  when he was fast asleep. Ram, 52, died on the spot. He is survived by his wife and two children.

His brother Sunil Pandey, who has lodged an FIR, said Ram was targeted for exposing corruption in the postal department. “My brother had recently exposed irregularities in the appointments of postal employees in Nalanda and other districts,” Sunil told the police officer investigating the case.

A source in the postal department in Patna confirmed that Ram was a whistleblower who exposed graft in the appointments made in the last few years. “Ram, who was also president of the Bihar Dak Seva Sangh, had to pay a heavy price for exposing corruption,” the source added.