Satish Shetty (21 July 1970 – 13 January 2010), popularly known as "Satish", was an Indian social activist, noted for exposing many land scams in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. He had used the

Right to Information Act The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, an ...

to expose irregularities in Government offices in the last five years. He was killed on 13 January 2010, by unknown attackers in

Talegaon Talegaon is a town on the outskirts of the city of Pune, India. Demographics At the 2001 Census of India, Talegaon Dabhade had a population of 42,574. Males constituted 53% of the population and females 47%. The average literacy rate was 79%, ...

Background and killing

In recent years, Shetty had used the

RTI Act The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, an ...

to expose large scale land scams involving the leading real estate firm

IRB Infrastructure IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited (formerly ''IRB Infrastructure Developers Private Limited''), is an Indian highway construction company headed by Mr. Virendra Dattatraya Mhaiskar. It was incorporated in 1998, with its headquarters in Mum ...

and its subsidiary Aryan. In 2009, he filed a complaint that forged documents had been used by these firms to acquire large swathes of land in the Taje and Pimploli villages off the Pune-Mumbai highway. After investigations, 90 sale deeds were cancelled, and sub-registrar Ashwini Kshirsagar was suspended. The company blamed land brokers for the irregularities, and the planned IRB township project was eventually scrapped. After this episode, Shetty started getting threat calls. In November 2009, he filed a request with the Pune rural police seeking protection. In the request, he said that he had been receiving threats allegedly originating with Virendra Mhaiskar, chairman of IRB Infrastructure. Protection was not granted. In January 2010, Shetty was knifed by several people while he was at a kiosk reading a paper after his morning walk. The subsequent police investigations proposed a different theory for the murder, ignoring the IRB infrastructure association. Eventually the case was transferred to the CBI. In October 2012, CBI raided the offices of

and that of IRB advocate Ajit Kulkarni. In January 2013, CBI obtained permission to conduct polygraph tests on Mhaiskar, his attorney Kulkarni, and eight others, leading to a 15% drop in the company's share price. Stocks regained 3% after it was said that the polygraph tests of Mhaiskar may not have revealed any incriminating aspects.

Recognition

He was given posthumously the Sajag Nagrik Award, which was received by his brother Sandeep at a function held in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

National RTI Forum National RTI Forum was an organisation based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, founded by ex IPS officers and President, Adhikar Sena Amitabh Thakur and his wife activist and advocate Nutan Thakur. Background The group gave "RTI Gallantry Award" ...

has honoured his martyrdom by naming an award after him as Satish Shetty RTI Gallantry award. In 2011 he was posthumously awarded the

NDTV Indian of the Year NDTV Indian of the Year is the annual award given by the NDTV group. Winners of the Award Seventh NDTV Indian of the Year The Seventh NDTV Indian of the Year was held at the Taj Palace Hotel on 18 October 2011. The winners were: * Indian of th ...

's LIC Unsung Hero of the Year Award with other RTI activists

Amit Jethwa Amit Jethwa (also Amit Jethava) (1975 – 20 July 2010) was an Indian environmentalist and social worker, active in the Gir Forest area near Junagadh, Gujarat. He had filed several court cases against illegal mining in the protected area, namin ...

, Dattatreya Patil, Vishram Dodiya and Vitthal Gite

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shetty, Satish 1970 births 2010 deaths Right to Information activists People murdered in Maharashtra Indian whistleblowers Activists from Maharashtra 2010 murders in Asia 2010 murders in India

Background and killing

Recognition

See also

References