With almost every media house
involved in the rat race for advertising revenue and TRP ratings, some
publications like Fountain Ink and Caravan buck the trend by venturing into territories
where the mainstream media may either fear to tread or think it’s way too ‘down
market’, hence not worth the trouble.
Every publication and its
editor these days live under the hallucination that their readers are high net
worth individuals who drive to work in swanky cars, have high purchasing
capacity and spend vacations in exotic locales around the globe.
It is another matter that
this particular class, whom they are too eager to court, are too busy and don’t
care to read anything other than what appears on their smartphone screens! Moreover if they want to buy a car or an expensive
gadget, poring newspapers and magazines would be
the last thing that would come to their minds.
The recent cover story in
Caravan about an ayah who, without her knowledge, became a millionaire on paper
and was used as a cover by her employer to hide his financial chicanery is something
no mainstream publication would suffer the toil of touching even with a barge
pole, let alone follow it up.
As part of Post 9/11 investigations
the US investigators stumbled upon the infamous insider trading scandal
involving Raj Rajarathnam, CEO of hedge fund company Galleon and Rajat Gupta former
global head of McKinsey. As Rajat Gupta was the darling of corporate India, it
did evoke some interest in the country’s pink press and his later incarceration
was mourned by many in the India Inc.
The above said maid, Manju
Das, was listed as an investor in Galleon, with “Anil Kumar” (a McKinsey
employee) as her contact person.
After a prolonged investigation into the case, the arrests happened in 2009. Though Rajarathnam and Gupta had
to undergo jail terms, Kumar got off lightly, because he had ‘cooperated’ and
helped the authorities unearth crucial details. He had to undergo a probation
period of two years and forfeit the $2.26 million that was calculated to be his
illicit gain.
It was found that the illegal
payments Kumar got from Rajarathnam were fraudulently hidden from his employers
and the government, and routed to tax havens in South America (resident or
non-resident Indian, money laundering runs in our blood!). To carry out this
embezzlement Kumar hijacked Manju Das’s identity, while she was working as a live-in maid with the
family in California. However, after Kumar’s arrest her employment was
terminated and she was sent back to India.
Under the shadow of this high
profile case, this particular sub-plot involving exploitation of an underclass
woman got totally eclipsed. Moreover Das was paid a measly salary, way below
the US minimum wages and many other norms for US maids were violated.
Ironically the US prosecutor
for hedge fund scam happened to the Preet Behrara, who later took on Indian
diplomat Devyani Khobargade for not paying minimum wages to her maid. Somehow he too failed to smell the rat in this case.
After Das reached India, Kumar
saw to it that her passport and other travel papers were taken away by his
assistant. When pointed out to her that it was a criminal offence for anyone to hold
on to her passport, she wryly said she no longer needed it. For her the daily
grind for rozi roti and old age itself was too daunting to worry about such legal trifles.
Also Read: Bangalore Beat
