His name was Satyendra Dubey.
He topped Bihar in Class 10 and Class 12 board exams.
He cleared JEE and went to IIT Kanpur.
He joined the Indian Engineering Service.
In 2002 he was posted as Project Director at the National Highways Authority of India in Jharkhand.
His job was to oversee the Golden Quadrilateral highway project.
Indiaโs biggest infrastructure project at the time.
What he found was shocking.
Substandard materials. Inflated bills. Contractors looting public money.
He wrote a letter to the Prime Ministerโs Office exposing everything.
He asked for one thing. That his identity be kept secret.
The PMO leaked his name.
On November 27 2003 he was shot dead in Gaya Bihar.
He was 27 years old.
Two years later India passed the Right to Information Act.
Ten years later India passed the Whistleblowers Protection Act.
Both laws exist because of Satyendra Dubey.
He never got to see either of them.