Elite walking free despite huge crimes: Narayana Murthy

Software icon N R Narayana Murthy said today that the "elite" are going unpunished though they commit "huge crimes" in the country, which he sees as a problem with society.

The co-founder and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies said in "large-scale white-collar crimes taking place in the country", there should be quick investigation based on data and facts and the media should not play it up.

Speaking at the 10th anniversary of the Indian School of Business, located on the Infosys premises in Hyderabad, Murthy did not discuss specifics, but his remarks come at a time when corruption issues dominate the country's political landscape.

A series of scandals have tarnished the government's image badly this year. The most high-profile of these relate to the organisation of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai, the illegal mining  operations run in Karnataka by ruling party MPs and mininsters, and perhaps above all, the alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum, which according to government accountant CAG led to a notional loss of Rs1.76 lakh crore.

Murthy said, "There should be very heavy punishment which is commensurate with the benefit that those people (the wealthy and well-connected) have indeed gained. If you have quick, commensurate punishment, then things will be all right … today, we have so many cases where elite ... they just don't get punished even though they have committed huge crimes. That's the problem with this society," Murthy said.

Earlier on Tuesday, speaking at a similar function the Indian Business School at Bangalore (also located on Infosys premises), Murthy had also blasted government corruption. He recounted how in 1984, as he chose not to bribe officials, he had to cough up an amount of Rs10 lakh that he might otherwise have saved.