A Very Distinct Tale of Two Bright Young Men From Patna

For the last few months news channels, CBI and Bihar government have made Sushant Singh Rajput’s case the top priority. Channels like Republic TV, Times now and almost all except a few have forgotten every other issue and have solely focussed on this case. Mostly because it brings in TRP and also because it distracts the public from actual issues like COVID-19, a slumping economy and an absolute bad state of the country in general.

The news channels have latched onto this case like a dog on a bone. Not even a slump of 24% in GDP could make them lose sight of the TRP money. Did you ever wonder what would have happened if Sushant Singh Rajput was not famous? Would the news channels and the general public make so much noise for a common man?

What if I told you that you don’t even need to imagine this scenario, since we already have a real-life example in front of ourselves.

Ajitabh Kumar a 29-year-old techie from Patna working in Bengaluru has been missing since 18 December 2017.

After completing his B Tech from Manipal Institue of Technology Ajitabh got a job at Accenture and later moved to British Telecommunications in Bengaluru. While working a tough job he prepared for CAT and cracked it. He got a very good score and was eligible for IIM Calcutta one of the best institutes in the country.

To pay for the college admission he went to sell his Maruti Suzuki Ciaz on 18th December 2017 and hasn’t returned till today. There is a stark similarity between Sushant Singh Rajput and Ajitabh Kumar. Both engineering students from good colleges doing quite well in their respective fields. Both hailed from Patna. The only difference is that one was a famous person and the other a common man.

His father had to go to every minster and police in Patna and Bengaluru for their help. He pleaded the police to transfer the case to CBI as soon as possible so that the case could be solved, but it took them 11 months. Even after Even after more than 2.5 years the case still remains unsolved and there is no outrage in the media, not even a mention of the person

The Case So Far

The case is currently stuck in the process of getting data from Facebook. The person who called Ajitabh for buying his car through OLX used WhatsApp to contact him. The CBI has contacted Facebook to retrieve the user-data. Since there is a strong privacy law regarding the sharing of user data, the government of India needs to send a letter to the US and then to Facebook in order to get the data. The process is currently stuck at this position given how slow Indian judiciary is.

There are no other developments in the case after that. The fact that it’s not getting any media attention, something that could speed up the search, is demotivating to the whole family of Ajitabh. Cases like these drain the last drop of confidence the common man had in the judiciary.

Different Sets of Laws for Different People?

It seems like there are a different set of rules for famous people and a different one for the common man in this country. Whatever field it be, a famous person is almost always given priority. Just a few weeks ago, to get a bed in a hospital a common man had to go to a prominent leader. None of the famous people who were infected with COVID-19 had to face this sort of problem. A famous person is always is given priority in Police stations, banks, restaurants and everywhere else while a common man has to wait for days for his voice to be heard.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about justice for SSR but not on the expense of everything else.

I do not want the media houses to keep playing the same story over and over again and not say a word about China’s infiltration in India, uncontrollable rise of COVID-19 cases, a slumping economy and other issues that affect more people than Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The case has already been handed over to the CBI, If Bihar government had paid even a 10% interest of what it’s paying to SSR case, Bihar wouldn’t have been among the most lawless states.

Ajitabh’s father and sister have been fighting alone for the past couple of years with little help from the media and the government. It’s time we supported this person who has more in common with us than any famous person in the country. This is the Facebook page about Ajitabh is trying to get media attention to the case but has failed so far since Arnab Goswami doesn’t care about some hard-working guy from a small town.