Saurabh Kumar (engineer)

Saurabh Kumar (1983–2015) was an engineering officer with the Indian Railways, hailed as one of several whistleblowers against Corruption in India. He was killed under mysterious circumstances in Kharagpur after informing his family about receiving death threats for resisting pressure to approve tenders.

A graduate of BIT Sindri (2008), Kumar was posted as the purchase officer in Railway stores, handling large-volume tenders for railway scrap. He confided in his friends and family that he was under pressure to approve tenders by "politically affiliated mafia members." On 23 September 2015, his body, which had started to rot, was found at his official quarters in Kharagpur. The body is reported to have had head injuries and profound bleeding. Initially, the police refused to file a foul play FIR and declared it as a case of death by snakebite.

However, friends formed the group #JusticeForSaurabh on social media. After mounting pressure on the internet, along with TV images showing most of the bedsheet soaked in blood, the railway minister, Suresh Prabhu, ordered a probe, and the police agreed to register an FIR for murder.

The killing is under investigation but the internet outcry continues, pointing to the police reluctance to register the murder as evidence that the investigation was sidetracked at the behest of the rail mafia. In the days after the probe was announced, the group have tried to get political backing for a stricter probe, and a candlelight vigil was organized at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi by the political group, Swaraj Abhiyan, seeking early justice.