From Kangan To Kingfisher: The Arc Of Scandals From Kashmir To Delhi

By Syed Nissar H Gilani

In 1958, a scandal in Kangan, a small town in Kashmir, shook the valley and left a mark that lasts even today.

A Naib Tehsildar looted Rs. 85,000 from the local treasury and framed his peon. The peon bore the weight of a crime he did not commit, suffering years of hardship and dying of a heart attack before the truth came out.

Investigators later punished the officer, but the state restored him with promotions and arrears. The injustice, the reversal, left a bitter imprint on local memory.

This early scandal in Kashmir foreshadowed patterns seen across India.

In 1948, V.K. Krishna Menon, India's High Commissioner to the UK, bypassed protocol to order hundreds of jeeps worth lakhs of rupees. Questions of transparency and accountability eventually reached the highest offices.

The Jeep Scandal hinted at a recurring tension in governance: ambitious officials moving faster than rules and leaving citizens to untangle the aftermath.

The 1971 heist by Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala added another layer of mystery. Claiming to act on orders from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he withdrew Rs. 60 lakh from the State Bank of India.

The audacity of the act, and the questions it raised about government oversight, remain a source of speculation decades later.

In the 1990s, India faced Harshad Mehta, who manipulated the stock market, exploiting weaknesses in banking systems.

Investors lost faith as financial instruments meant to secure their futures became vehicles for one man's ambition.

Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines followed, with billions lost in defaulted loans and allegations of bank fraud.

The Commonwealth Games in 2010 under Suresh Kalmadi exposed inflated contracts and mismanagement on a national stage, turning civic pride into scandal headlines.

Closer to Kashmir, scandals continue to erode trust.

The Srinagar Haj scam duped pilgrims, siphoning lakhs from innocent devotees. Local banking scandals are part of the narrative.

In 1978, J&K Bank clerk K.K. Dhar swindled crores, spending on discos and gambling.

The Medical Health Department scandal saw hospitals supplied with adulterated, even fungus-infested saline. Officers implicated in both cases were later reinstated and promoted.

Ponzi schemes like the Sharda Chit Fund and Saradha Group defrauded millions, showing how easily greed can hide behind promises of prosperity.

Scandals follow a pattern: weak oversight, opaque governance, and uneven enforcement create spaces for malfeasance.

The story is far from over.

Every new scandal reminds us that human ambition finds cracks wherever oversight is weak.

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