New Delhi: The Supreme Court today (Jan 5, 2004) issued notices to the Centre, Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievance and Bihar Government on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking probe into the alleged leakage of a letter written by NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) engineer Satyendra Dubey pointing out corruption in the construction of Golden Quadrilateral project resulting in his alleged murder by the construction mafia.

The notices were issued by a Bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice P V Reddi on a PIL filed by advocate Rakesh Uttamchandra Upadhaya, who also sought direction to the Centre to implement the recommendations of the Law Commission and the Constitution Review Committee to enact "Whistle Blower Act" to ensure protection to persons complaining about corruption in high places.

Dubey, who had written to the Prime Minister about the alleged siphoning of money from the project at Barachatti segment in Bihar, was murdered on November 27, 2003 allegedly by the contractor mafia.

The petitioner had said despite the request of the deceased not to divulge his name, his identity was disclosed leading to his murder.

He said that an independent inquiry Commission should be set up to go into all aspects pertaining to the murder of Dubey as it has been alleged that the Centre had leaked the name of the official. The Prime Minister's Office has denied the Government having ever leaked the name of Dubey.