Monu Ratra

[Sann @san_x_m]

Her name was Shehla Masood.

She was 38 years old, lived in Bhopal, and ran an event management company.

Then in 2009, she discovered the RTI Act.

She filed over 200 RTI applications in two years. She exposed illegal construction happening in plain sight. She fought to save tigers being poached by the very forest officers meant to protect them. She took on Rio Tinto, a global mining giant sitting on 27.4 million carats of diamonds inside a protected forest in Chhattarpur. Two district collectors were transferred to make that mining happen. She filed RTIs, went to parliament, and stopped it.

A month before she died, she gave an interview. She said she feared for her life but would not stop, because the nexus between politicians and babus was slowly poisoning this country.

On August 16, 2011, she sat in her car outside her home, about to leave for an Anna Hazare rally.

A hired gunman shot her once through the throat.

The CBI said the motive was a love triangle. Four people were convicted and sentenced to life. The mining angle was never investigated.

Her father told investigators that high profile people had conspired to kill his daughter.

Nobody listened.

She was posthumously given the SR Jindal Crusade Against Corruption Award, an honour shared with APJ Abdul Kalam.

India rewarded her with a bullet, then gave her an award, then forgot her name.

Follow for real stories India never makes headlines about.

[Monu Ratra @RatraMonu]

@starks_arq “DRUSKI”

[Monu Ratra @RatraMonu]

Playbook

[JD Ross @justindross]

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Typical brokers pick two options who pay them most.
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Hungryroot saved $300k/yr because of this.
Thirty Madison saved over $200k.