Gautam Goswami

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Gautam Goswami is an Indian civil servant, now facing allegations of corruption.

Gautam was eulogized as a young hero for his supervision of relief efforts after floods hit Bihar,India.^[1] [For the article click here]. However it is now alleged that throughout, Goswami channelled government money set aside for flood relief into a labyrinth of private accounts.^[2] The Indian Express first started reporting on possible misappropriations in 2004. These investigative reports soon caused a backlash against the officer.

The reports^[3] meticulously detailed the suspected modus operandi. Goswami, it was said, was funnelling funds to a private company named Baba Satya Sai Industrial Corporation, and maintaining in the records books that money was paid to BSSIC. BSSIC, incidentally was also the acronym of the state agency, Bihar Small Scale Industries Corporation, that oversaw relief work. It is reported that one year later, during the audits, it was discovered that less than 1% of the money reached those affected. Currently legal proceedings are planned on this officer. After allegedly looting the government of more than 170 million rupees. For comparison, this is 5,667 times the per capita income of India. Goswami is now in Beur jail at Patna.^[4]