Former Central Bureau of Investigation director R.K. Raghavan addressing the audience at the book release function of his autobiography A Road Well Travelled, held in Chennai.
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
R.K. Raghavan, a Tamil Nadu cadre officer of the 1963 batch, investigated the Bofors case, the match-fixing case in 2000 that saw the ouster of Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin, the fodder scam of Bihar’s Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, and others. A former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Dr. Raghavan is not only an accomplished police officer but also a writer and academic. In his autobiography A Road Well Travelled (Westland, second edition), Dr. Raghavan, 85, reflects not only on his life, both personal and professional, but also on larger issues such as governance, inter-group tensions in rural areas, criminal justice administration, and representation of minorities in the police forces of the U.S. and India. In a conversation with T. Ramakrishnan, he speaks of his assessment of certain historical events as well as the chronic issues and challenges confronting the country. Edited excerpts:
In your book, why do you blame former Prime Minister V. P. Singh for the assassination of his immediate predecessor Rajiv Gandhi, who did not have the Special Protection Group (SPG) cover then? Was it not a fact then that the legal framework on SPG cover was confined to serving Prime Ministers?
