New Delhi, May 18
This may well be the story of another Satyan Dubey. On May 14, Lalit Mehta, a 36-year-old member of the Right to Food and Right to Work campaigns in Jharkhand, was brutally murdered when he was on his way back from Daltonganj to Chhattarpur on his motorcycle.

Four days after the brutal killing of their colleague, Right to Food campaigners across India have united and sought a CBI enquiry into the incident. They are also asking for strict action on all complaints and irregularities emerging from the social audit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) works in certain blocks of Palamau district of Jharkhand - an area where Lalit Mehta was particularly active, being also a member of the Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan.

The killing of Mehta may well have roots in the fact that at the time of the incident, he was helping a team of volunteers from New Delhi and elsewhere in conducting the audit work in Chainpur and Chhattarpur blocks of Palamau district.

Demanding a high-level probe, Balram, his colleague, and members of the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, today told The Tribune that several attempts had been made to dissuade the team from conducting the audit of NREGA, particularly in Chainpur block.

“Is it a coincidence that Lalit was murdered just a day after the investigation into NREGA works began?” asked a Right to Food activist from Jharkhand, adding that the circumstances of Mehta’s murder were very disturbing.

Mehta had been working in this area for more than 15 years. “His work was widely appreciated. However, he was fearless in exposing corruption and exploitation, and often came in the way of vested interests,” said a member of the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in Jharkhand. He added that if Mehta’s murder was an act of intimidation, it had not succeeded, as his supporters from all over the state came out on the streets soon after his killing.

To express solidarity with Mehta and strengthen his crusade against corruption, activists in Jharkhand today announced the holding of a public hearing of the NREGA in Chhattarpur on May 26.

From the government, the activists are demanding a CBI enquiry into Mehta’s killing and action on the corruption practices bared by the audit. Among the most vocal supporters of these demands are Balram, Jean Drèze from Allahabad University whose team was conducting the social audit.