10 biggest Indian political scams

This article is written by Shreeji Saraf. This article aims to provide an in-depth view of 10 political scams that have taken place in India over the years, cases where government officials are seen to be involved in the scams.

This article has been published by Shashwat Kaushik.

Introduction

As individuals, we might have witnessed or heard about some form of scam that takes place in our lives. The problem is that it has been persistent for many years despite the enacted acts and it further goes on to take place even today. 

Before moving further I want to ask you one question. Do you know what scam means? Let us consider this question. A scam can be defined as a type of fraud where the person involved in it gains some kind of unlawful advantage for them. In this, the person has the knowledge and knows about the consequences of the act and it is an intentional act. 

Several initiatives have been taken by the government to curb these scams and some of them are the passing of The Right to Information Act, 2005 creation of the anti-corruption police and courts, and more. Not only this, but these scams have impacted the society and functioning of the government in different ways. One common lesson that these scams provide us with is that it results in a situation or a position where citizens lose their trust in the government, the scams impact society through financial aspects. 

The main objective of this article is to highlight the 10 biggest political scams that have taken place in India like the 2G spectrum case, Fodder scam house, Adarsh Housing Society scam, DLF land grab case, Kerala Gold Smuggling case, etc. 

Now let’s delve into the main topic of our article, which is the 10 political scams that have taken place in India. 

10 biggest Indian political scams

We all know that corruption in some or the other way has been a part of our society. These scams or corruption have had a huge impact on society. There are many scams that have taken place in India over the centuries. We are going to cover some of the most important political scams in detail below:

Subramanian Swamy vs. A. Raja (2G Spectrum case) (2007)

Background

You might be aware that this scam, it took place in the year 2007 during the rule of the Congress government. As per the facts of the case, A. Raja was the Cabinet Minister for Communication and Information Technology. You must know that he had allocated around and about 122 licenses for 2G spectrum which turned out to benefit some of the telecommunication companies. It is likely to have been noticed that he had reduced the date of the application of the 2G spectrum. 

Initially, it was 1st October 2007 and the reduced date was 5th September 2007. This action that he had taken provided only some time limit for the companies to apply. It turned out many companies didn’t apply for the same. Companies from which A. Raja benefited were all set to apply with the cheques in their hand. Later on, it was noticed that he had not taken any consideration or advice from the Law and Finance Ministry.

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

As we have looked into the facts of this scam, we can move forward to cover the charges laid against him. There were several charges that were laid against A. Raja and they can be constituted as follows:

• Raja had not paid any heed to the advice of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Finance Ministry, and Law Ministry. TRAI regulates the telecommunications sector in India and it is a government body. It helps in laying out policies, ensures welfare, and protects the interests of the customers.  
• Raja had sold the 2G Spectrum at the price of 2001 in the year 2008. This led to an increase in the entry fee straight up to US$350 million in 2008 from US$4 million in 2001.
• There are two ways according to which the Indian government can deal with the spectrum, the first one is an auction and the other one is a fixed price. He conducted the sale of the spectrum at fixed prices but the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had put forward that the sale of the same should be conducted as the auctioning at the market prices.
• On the other hand, he had brought down the application date by 25 days and he had even altered the rules of the same according to his wish.
• Not only Raja but there were several others who were even held accountable for this offence. The chargesheet is said to have been filed against 12 accused persons. Among these Raja, R.K. Chandolia who was his personal secretary, the then telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, and the then MD of Swam Telecom Shahid Usman Balwa are a few. 
• The three corporate companies that are considered to be the true beneficiaries were Reliance Telecom, Swan Telecom, and Unitech Wireless. The charges that were laid down against Raja constitute fraud, forgery, and conspiracy. 
• It was also noticed that they have been said to have used their authority in a position to their advantage. Later on, the CBI mentioned how Raja and his accomplices had caused a loss of such a huge amount and the amount that was mentioned by the CBI was Rs. 30,984 crore. 
• Further CBI even highlighted that not soon after Raja took the position in the telecom server, he appointed Chandolia and Behura in the same division as his with an intention to cause criminal connivance. His main intention or motive was to issue (Unified Access Services) UAS licenses to Swan and several other organizations. UAS licenses are a type of service that allows the transfer of voice and nonvoice messages. 
• There was a report that was submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), this was further taken into consideration by the President under the provision stated under Article 151 of the Constitution of India. The Article states that the reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India need to be submitted before the President as was done in the above case. 
• The Department of Telecommunication did not abide by the process of application and this led to the issue of licenses to those companies that were not even eligible. The process that was followed in the issuance of UAS licenses lacked fairness and transparency. 
• The Supreme Court in its verdict mentioned that the allegations did not have much evidence that could back up the charges mentioned. This does not imply or disprove the fact that the licenses that were issued during the 2G spectrum were illegal. 
• All the accused who were part of the largest political scam were set free or released by the Special Court. The Special Court highlighted that the prosecution was unable to prove any of the charges against the defendants. 

Covering all the facts, and charges, mentioning the people who were behind this scam we further look into the legal provisions that were mentioned in this scam. 

Laws that were referred by the court in the respective case

To know more about this case, click here.

As we have covered our first scam we will next look into the Fodder scam case. 

Fodder scam case(1990)

Background 

As we have seen above, even this scam even included the involvement of government officials. First, we need to look into the facts, like, it all began when the government officials had filed inaccurate and faulty expenditure reports. Not only this, the politicians and businessmen even contributed to being a part of this scam. Jagannath Mishra who served as the former Chief Minister of Bihar was the accused of knowing the whereabouts of the scam. 

For the first time in the year 1977, some sort of scam was being predicted in the areas of Southern Bihar. There were some illegal and unlawful withdrawals of money from government funds in the year 1990. Not only this, along with it money was being traded and interchanged between the suppliers and animal husbandry department personnel. All these events didn’t come to notice. 

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

Further, we will cover in detail the other aspects of the case:

• These all events came to the light and notice of the government when Lalu Prasad Yadav became the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990.
• At first, when the scam was initiated Lalu Prasad Yadav didn’t have any involvement in the scam. Later on when the scam came to the notice of the Bihar Government instead of stopping or taking action against such a thing, they allowed the scam to continue and in return asked that he should be paid a share of the same thing. Rs. 950 crore is said to have been withdrawn during the tenureship of Yadav’s tenure. 
• There was a delay in the submissions of the monthly accounts by the Bihar state and this was when the then Comptroller and Auditor General of India took into account the delay in February 1985. On many occasions, warnings were given to different CMs during their tenure. The Principal Accountant General and CAG even conducted examinations. However, their efforts became futile when ignored by the CM.
• The police officer had filed a report to G Narayan. Both of them belonged to the same state’s anti-corruption vigilance unit. The report highlighted the involvement of the Chief Minister in the fodder scam. 
• Two commissions were asked to be established which would further investigate the matter. One commission was administered by Phoolchand Singh who was the State Development Commissioner. Later on, his involvement in the scam came to light and as an outcome or result of the commission had to be called off. 
• CBI started the investigation after the order passed by the Patna High Court. Not only this, it was even mentioned that they needed to carefully investigate and examine the cases. The cases must be of money withdrawal in the Department of Animal Husbandry in the state of Bihar from the years 1977-1978 to 1995-96. 
• CBI was ordered to file cases in respect where it found the withdrawal was deceptive and misleading. The timeline provided by the court to file cases was probably 4 months. Famous political leaders and Chief Ministers like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra were even interrogated by the CBI during the period of investigation. 
• A total of 64 events of fodder scams were investigated by the CBI. The first FIR was filed by the CBI in relation to the fodder scam in the Chaibasa Treasury case and this was in 1996. 
• A charge sheet was filed by the CBI in 1997 which contained the name of Lalu Yadav and other 55 accused. They were all charged under Sections 420 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code along with Section 13(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. 
• When Yadav’s name appeared on the charges, it resulted in a political outbreak. As a member of the Janata Dal party, the party was completely against the idea of him holding the office as Chief Minister.
• As a consequence of this, it led to the formation of RJD by Yadav. He himself resigned from the post of Chief Minister. In his absence, his wife took his position and also gained the vote of confidence. After the formation of Jharkhand in 2001, all the cases in the respective matter were shifted to it. 
• The fines that were imposed by the court ranged from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1.2 crores and many people had been convicted by the court in the case of fodder scams including some political leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra. 
• In this case, we had seen that Yadav being a government official was involved in this and the court has rightly imposed penalties on it.

As we have all the facts and important points of this scam, we further look forward to covering the legal provisions or laws that were covered by the court. 

Laws that were referred by the court in the respective case

The following sections of the IPC were dealt with in this case:

• Section 120(A) of the IPC (Section 61(1) BNS) deals with criminal conspiracy and the section that carries the punishment for this offence is 120B.
• Section 409 covers the purview of the law when any public servant has committed a breach of trust.
• Section 467 (Section 338 BNS) covers the provision of forgery with regard to valuable security.
• This scam even highlights the use of The Prevention of Corruption Act, of 1988. 

To know more about this case, click here

Further, we will delve into our next scam, the Kerala gold smuggling scam.

Kerala gold smuggling case (2020)

Background

Did you all know that during the 1970s a number of cases related to smuggling of gold was reported in Kerala? The gold was being smuggled through transportation of the sea. After a certain period of time, it was highlighted that a certain amount of gold has been seized at the Kerala airport. After looking into the background now let’s cover how the scam was caught.

How was the scam caught

Let’s look into the aspects of this case, and what series of events took place to constitute this as a scam. You might have read that gold weighing around 30 kg which was priced at rupees 14.8 crores was caught at the International Airport of the Thiruvananthapuram by the customs officers on 5th of July, 2020. The gold was seized at the diplomatic baggage counter of the airport and the same was being conveyed to the UAE Consulate. 

The prime accused in this smuggling case was Swapna Suresh, who had been an employee of the UAE Consulate. Space Park had undertaken a project and her role in that project was of a business development manager. Further, she was charged or fined Rs. 6 crores as a penalty in respect to the gold smuggling. Further, we will cover in detail the other aspects of the case:

• Even M. Sivasankar who was the former Principal Secretary along with Pinarayi Vijayan who was the former Kerala Chief Minister were imposed with Rs. 50 lakh as a penalty by the Customs Department. In addition to this, a 6 crore penalty was even imposed on Jamal Husein Alzaabi and Rashed Khamis. 
• An amount summing up to Rs. 66.6 crore had been charged on all the 44 accused among which it even included 2 former UAE diplomats in Thiruvananthapuram. The charges were implied on the accused under the provisions of The Customs Act, of 1962. The fines were pressed under Section 112 of the Customs Act, 1962 by the Commissioner of Customs, Kochi on the account of unsuitable and immoral importation of goods.
• After all this when the main accused mentioned that Mr. Sivasankar was even involved in the abetment of this offence, he was even arrested by the customs officials on the account that he might be aware of the details of the happening of the event.
• The main mastermind behind this smuggling was K. T. Rameez. It was highlighted by the customs department that between 15th July 2019 and 27th June 2020, the smuggling racket had trafficked around 136.8 kg of gold through the Thiruvananthapuram air cargo complex.

Now we have read about the facts, the prime accused and the decision taken by the court. Further, we will cover the laws that were of importance in the particular scam.

Laws that were referred by the Special Court in the respective case

This section deals with the power that has been provided to the Central Government or the state governments which should not be below the rank of Joint Secretary to that government to hold up any person who is associated with or involved in the smuggling, abetment, or concealment of the smuggled goods. 

• The Customs Act, 1962: Section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962 specifically states that the burden of proof will be on that person from whose care or custody the smuggled goods have been obtained. That individual has to prove that the goods so obtained are not smuggled goods. This section shall be relevant to gold, watches, or any other goods that have been specified by the Central Government in the official gazette.  

Now, we can look forward to our next scam which is the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Adarsh Housing Society scam(2010)

Background

Not only in the above scams but even in these scams the government officials are seen to benefit themselves, using their political status. Let’s cover the series of events that took place in this scam. First, we need to look at what exactly was Adarsh Housing Society. The Adarsh Housing Society is a 31 storied building which is situated in Colaba, South Mumbai. This was initially built to serve as a shelter for the war heroes and widows of the Kargil War in 1999. 

Further, it was revealed that people who were living in that building were relatives of the bureaucrats and politicians. In the year 2010, it came to the headlines that the officials of the politicians and military all together decided to disobey the rules and regulations concerning land ownership.

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

Further, we will cover in detail the facts and other aspects of the case:

• Initially, the building was supposed to consist of only six stories, and the cost of each apartment was approximately Rs. 8 crores which was sold at one-tenth of the price to the relatives of the bureaucrats and politicians. The apartments were registered in the name of the proxy owners only. 
• This scam has been examined and administered by various agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (hereinafter referred to as CBI), a team that had been put together by the Maharashtrian Government and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). In 2010 the investigation of this scam was moved under the CBI and in 2011, CBI filed the First Information Report (FIR). 
• In this particular scam, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan along with 13 others was held accountable for this scam and the charges that were put against them involved criminal conspiracy under Section 120(B) of the IPC along with several other provisions from the Prevention of Corruption Act. 
• After the charges were laid down against the then Chief Minister, the Congress Government ruling at that time ensured that Chavan resigned from his post. After this, the Maharashtra Government had set up a two-member Judicial Committee which was headed by J A Patil in the year 2011. The committee disclosed that there were 25 unlawful and illegitimate documents which involved 22 purchases that were made through proxy. 
• During the investigation, it came to the notice that the society didn’t have any environmental clearance. The Bombay High Court had passed an order to tear down the building under the expertise of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and this was to be carried out at the expense of the Adarsh Society. It even ordered that criminal proceedings should be started against the politicians and the bureaucrats as they had misused and taken advantage of their power and position. 
• After all these incidents the then Maharashtra Governor had declined to furnish or produce any authority to prosecute Chavan but later on Governor Vidyasagar Rao gave the needed authority to CBI to prosecute Chavan. The charge sheet that was submitted by the CBI involved the names of the many high bureaucrats some of which were Jairaj Phatak, Ramanand Tiwari, and many more who were arrested. 
• Initially, the court had passed the judgment that the building needed to be demolished on the grounds that it was built unlawfully, but later on, when the group approached the Supreme Court, the court put a stay on the order. 

With this, we have to end the discussion about the Adarsh Housing Society scam. We will now move forward with the DLF land grab case. 

DLF land grab case(2013)

Background

Did you know that Robert Vadra had already made the news headlines with regard to the land-grabbing cases? He had bought many properties using an unsecured loan from DLF. He was considered as one of the beneficiary builders. Vadra had been accused by Arvind Kejriwal who was the then Chief Minister of Delhi. He was accused in relation to agreeing to accept an amount of Rs. 65 crores interest-free loan from the corporation DLF Limited in exchange for some political benefit or gain. 

In its reply, the Corporation specified that it entered into a private business with Vadra where the loan was given for the payment of land that was purchased by Vadra. The Corporation clearly specified that the land was not sold at a lesser price. 

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

Further, we will cover in detail the facts and other aspects of the case:

• Robert Vadra, Bhupendra Singh Hooda, and DLF were already added as suspects to the CBI. They were already a target for CBI in relation to the violations of land deals. It came to the knowledge that Vadra had already obtained approximately Rs. 50 crores for the current land deal which was an unlawful and illegal gain. CBI had already investigated Hooda and it came to the notice that there were several petitions that were against him in the matter of land deals. 
• Builders used to force farmers to sell their land using the tactic that their land is perfect for public purposes. Once the land was obtained by the builders the government used to grant them the licence to build residential buildings on the farmland. This not only used to benefit the builders but also the government because it would lead to an increase in land prices.  
• Vadra had purchased the land of 3 acres for Rs. 7 crores and ended up selling the same land to DLF Limited Corporation for Rs. 58 crores which resulted in a profit of Rs. 50 crores for Vadra and the profit so obtained by him was immoral and unlawful. This case directly went to the CBI. Hooda and several other accused like the DLF company, Vadra, and others were charged with a penalty of Rs. 1500 crores for the violation of land deals done by them.
• As we have seen the persons involved in this scam have been rightly penalised according to their acts.

Further, we will delve into our next scam, the Narada Scam case.

Narada scam case (2014)

Background

You might have heard that during the years 2014 and 2016, the founder and creator of the Narada fiasco, Mathew Samuel conducted a sting operation named Narada sting operation. It was an undercover investigation conducted in West Bengal for approximately two years. This operation was directed towards disclosing and letting out the corruption that was ongoing within the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Mathew had formed a fake company named Impex Consultancy Solution for the ongoing operation. The operation is seen to have been directed towards 12 TMC leaders and IPS officers and it clearly represents that they were trading cash in exchange for some business favors for Impex Consultancy Solutions.

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

Further, we will cover in detail the facts and other aspects of the case:

• The sting operation was administered in 2014 and it was printed in the Tehelka news magazine. Before the 2016 West Bengal assembly elections, this was published on the private news website. 
• Many eminent individuals of the TMC leaders were taken into arrest for interchanging money or acknowledging the proposals that were made by Samuel. A 52-hour long footage was recorded by Samuel and his partner Angel Abraham which showcased or clearly indicated that TMCS MPs Mukul Roy and Prasun Banerjee were seen receiving bribes in the form of huge amounts of cash. 
• Many other persons who worked at the state level like the IPS officer and the TMC leader were even caught red-handed for trading money in the same case. It was contended by Samuel that a TMC Rajya Sabha MP named K D Singh had all the knowledge of the ongoing operation and not only but he even funded the operation. 
• Samuel was charged under various sections of IPC like Section 469 IPC (Section 336(4) BNS), Section 500 IPC (Section 356(2) BNS), Section 120(B) IPC and others. The Calcutta High Court had passed an order which clearly indicated that the state could not continue an investigation when the investigation by the court was taking place and put a stay on the same. 
• The court passed various orders administering the CBI to supervise a preliminary investigation and file an FIR against those involved in the respective case. After the CBI had filed the FIR, its next step was to take into custody all the alleged leaders who were a part of this. They were all charged under Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Sections 7, 13(2), 13(1D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
• On the other hand, a parallel investigation was directed by the ED. Not only this, as members of parliament are seen to have been involved in this offence a separate Lok Sabha ethics committee was formed to look into the individuals who had taken advantage of their powers and position. 
• The West Bengal Governor had directed the prosecution of ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, and Sovan Chatterjee. 

Covering all the facts, and charges, and mentioning the people who were behind this scam we further move on to the next scam which is the cash-for-vote scam.

Cash for vote scam (2015)

Background

Do you all know that this scam was initiated when the leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), were caught red-handed on a camera trading bribe to Elvis Stephenson who was a nominated MLA? Leaders of TDP bribed Elvis for bartering his vote in the elections of the Telangana Legislative Council. Not only this Revanth Reddy was brought in by the Telangana Police as he was caught giving Rs. 50 lakhs to Stephenson. 

Reddy on being caught was presented before the court and the court ordered the sentence of imprisonment. All this was not enough, simultaneously a telephonic conversation was showcased on the news channel and the conversation was taking place between N. Chandrababu Naidu who was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh at that time, and Stephenson. 

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

Further, we will cover in detail the facts and other aspects of the case:

• The TDP alleged that all these events were pulled out by the Telangana State Government. The Hyderabad High Court had to permit the bail of Reddy and the other two who were accused with him on the grounds of insufficient evidence that was present.
• As the telephonic conversation was showcased, the outcome of this was not good. It had resulted in the damage to the reputation of the TDP. As a result of which the party started initiating actions or steps that would help them retain their image and reputation. As a first step for this Chandrababu went to Delhi to have a meeting with the cadre leaders but it turned out to be of no use because they clearly indicated that they didn’t want to be involved in this. 
• TDP requested for the implementation of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 163(1) BNSS) (Code of Criminal Procedure has been replaced by Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS))as they had concluded that the people of Andhra Pradesh were not safe in Hyderabad. 
• It highlights that the main creator of the cash-for-vote scam was Chandrababu Naidu who was the President of the TDP. This came into the highlights after the arrest of Reddy.  

Now let’s delve into the Kerala solar panel scam. 

Kerala solar panel scam (2013)

Background

After covering a few of the important scams, now we would like to deal with the Kerala solar panel scam. We all might be aware that this scam involves two individuals named Saritha Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan, who were partners of a firm that used to sell solar energy solutions. They were taken into custody after Sajad, who was a businessman, had filed a complaint against them. 

The complaint indicated that the couple had defrauded the businessman by taking Rs. 40 lakhs from him which was a consultation fee and the money was being traded on the account of him becoming a partner in the solar projects. 

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

Further, we will cover in detail the facts and other aspects of the case:

• The couple used a strategy to lure businessmen and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to ask them for investing in their solar projects and the couple would offer them the position of a partner. They attracted the customers by showcasing that they had direct political connections with the then chief minister C M Chandy. 
• The then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was suspected to have been involved in abetting the couple in the solar scam. This turned into a political scam when a report was presented by Pinarayi Vijayan in which Chandy and Tenny Hoppen, Jikkumon Jacob who were his subordinates, and the shooter Salim Raj were charged with helping and aiding the main suspects, Saritha and Biju. 
• Not only this the then Home Minister T Radhakrishnan had tried his best to protect Chandy from the charge of criminal culpability.
• The call records of Saritha Nair clearly showcased that several calls were made to the then chief ministers. There was a letter by Sarita that accused Chandy and other politicians who requested sexual favors from her with regard to the solar scam.
• Firstly the couple was convicted by the Judicial Magistrate Court for 3 years of imprisonment and fined Rs. 10,000 each. After this Saritha was convicted by the First Class Judicial Magistrate for imprisonment of 6 years and also with a fine of Rs. 40,000. She was even found guilty of breach of trust, cheating, fabricating documents, and other crimes by the Court.

With this, we come to the end of our discussion about the Kerala solar panel scam and look forward to our next scam which is the VVIP Chopper scam.

VVIP chopper scam(2012)

Background

Did you know that a contract had been entered into by the UPA government in order to buy 12 Augusta Westland helicopters to carry the President and Prime Minister for the Indian Air Force? The total amount for which the helicopters were purchased amounted to Rs. 3,600 crores and the contract was signed in the year 2010.

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

It was in 2012 when a scam came into the spotlight where it was seen that several bureaucrats had accepted bribes to make alterations in the deals and this was first noticed in Italy. In 2013 the CEO and chairman of AugustaWestland were arrested which was followed by putting the contract on hold by the government. Further, we will cover in detail the facts and other aspects of the case:

• They were charged with bribing the middlemen who were involved in the deal. The UPA government led by Congress had revoked the contract in the year 2014 and the grounds for such revocation was a violation of the integrity pact. The government had easily 45 % of the money (Rs. 1620 crores) that was paid for the helicopters.  
• Antony, who was India’s former Defense Minister, stated that corruption had been exercised in the Chopper deal. 
• Several other points were highlighted in the case like the final deal price was considered to be 6 times more than the initial price of the contract. When the CBI started the investigation in the year 2013, they stated that various high-level government officials were involved in this dealing like Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi and his cousins and there was an involvement of 4 companies on the same hand. 
• In this case, a person named Michel was one of the middlemen in the alleged scam. He had first filed the bail petition in the trial court and Delhi High Court but the courts had eventually rejected it. Then he approached the Supreme Court for the same and the same was passed by the court. The court mentioned that the offence was of a serious nature. 

To know more about this case, click here.

Moving forward to our last and recent political scam that is the Delhi liquor scam.

Delhi liquor scam(2022)

Background

We all have read and seen in the news about this scam. As we all know in this scam, CBI had provided a list of 15 individuals who seemed to have been a part of Delhi Excise Policy, 2021-22. Manish Sisodia had topped the list which had been provided by the CBI. FIR contained the information that some license holders of the retail were indicating wrong and incorrect entries in order to transfer the funds and keep their records clean. They used to gain an advantage from it. 

Delhi had a liquor policy in which some changes had been brought by the group of ministers. The new changes that were introduced included heavy discounts that could be offered by the licensed owners of liquor, all the liquor shops could remain open till 3 am, and at the last the facility of home delivery of liquor was made available. 

This is what happened next before the implementation of the policy was examined by the Chief Secretary. It came to his notice that the policy contained certain irregularities and illegality and suggested that the same should be investigated. 

After looking into the background now let’s cover how this was caught.

How was the scam caught

Further, we will cover in detail the facts and other aspects of the case:

• CBI had arrested several people in connection with the alleged matter, Sisodia was even interrogated by them for continuous 8 hours. The first summon was issued to Arvind Kejriwal who is the Chief Minister of Delhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in February 2021. During the time period of October 2023 and March 2024, ED had served Kejriwal 9 summons, and at the last court denied the protection for him and he was arrested by CBI.
• At first, an interim bail was granted to Arvind by the Supreme Court to conduct campaigns for Lok Sabha elections. On the 2nd of June, he himself surrendered to the Tihar Jail. A regular bail had been granted to him for which the CBI moved to the Delhi High Court for challenging the same. Arvind was again arrested by CBI.  
• The Supreme Court granted bail to Arvind on 13th September 2024 along with Sisodia and others.  

With this, we have covered the 10 most political scams that have occurred in India. Further, we would like to highlight the point of what impact these scams had.

Impact and ethical lessons learnt from these political scams 

Looking in detail at what were the 10 biggest Indian political scams we would now like to cover how it impacted society. The above-mentioned political scams that have taken place in some way or the other have impacted the society or public in general. It doesn’t only impact the public in general but the democratic nature of India also. 

This weakens the government system or structure from within when the public servants or officials themselves are part of these scams. After the happening of these scams, the public is not able to place that much trust in the government. This hampers the transparency model of the government. Not only this but it also impacts the economy of the country. It acts as a hindrance to the growth of the country be it socially, politically, or economically.

Further, we will delve into public accountability. 

Public accountability

This is one of the important features of any government that is running the country. We all are aware that the government needs to be answerable to the public in general about their activities and conduct. Not only this but the internal activities of the government should also be examined. This would act as a system of checks and balances which would ensure that one organ of the government is not misusing its power and not functioning outside its jurisdiction.

Now let’s cover equality before the law.

Equality before law

This point is the foremost which needs to be taken into consideration. When any scam takes place, in several cases, the powerful and influential are not prosecuted because of their connections with high political officials. This mainly happens when any investigation is taking place. Everyone should be considered equal before the law be it the general public or political officials. 

To know more about this topic, click here.

Now let’s cover the erosion of trust.

Erosion of trust

The general public places a huge amount of trust in the government while electing their representatives. If the political scams continue to take place it will lead to erosion of trust on the part of the citizens in the government. The government should operate in a fair and transparent manner.

After covering all the important aspects of the case we would like to move forward towards the conclusion. 

Conclusion 

In this article above we have covered what scam means, and the main political scams that have occurred in Indian history. Not only this but how these scams have influenced or impacted society. After covering all the major points, we would like to come to the conclusion of this article. 

One of the biggest issues that is still prevalent in today’s society is the matter of corruption, and the greedy nature of the politicians, and government officials who are part of the government. This even hampers the development of the country. India as a country should incorporate mechanisms to deal with corruption and scams. 

The governance should be such that the people are not able to conduct such acts of corruption. Awareness should be spread in this matter, and what shall be consequences if any person is caught doing these acts. By studying the above scams we can understand one thing. In the end, these political scams hamper the trust of the citizens in the government. By implementing and enacting laws it’s not enough one should even focus on these being properly enforced. There should be certain enforcement mechanisms.

After covering everything we would like to move forward towards the Frequently Asked Questions. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Who was behind the biggest scam in India?

The biggest scam till date is considered to be the Satyam Scam which amounted to Rs. 14,000 crores. Some of the people who were part of this scam were Ramalinga Raju, Vadlamani Srinivas, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

Which body is responsible to look into the matter of corruption in India?

The Central Vigilance Commission is the apex body which looks into the matters of corruption. The concerned body derives its power from The Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003.

What is the reason behind that has led to an increase in scams?

The main reason that can be thought of is that with the advancement of technology and every information is accessible to scammers, they find it easy to trick customers. They use channels or modes like emails, messages, calls, etc.

What is an example of a government scam?

The 2G Spectrum Scam that took place in the year 2007 can be considered an example of a government scam. 

What is considered a political scam?

Political scams or scandals can be regarded or defined as an occurrence or incident which is morally and legally wrong and this often leads to public outbursts. Any politician, government official or any person working in politics can be accused of the above. 

What is the difference between crime and corruption?

Crime and corruption both can be regarded as terms that are related to each other. Crime is considered the commission of an act that occurs in violation of law. Whereas corruption refers to an act that intends to impair the integrity and moral principle.  

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