The office of the government’s accountant—the rather heavy-sounding Comptroller & Auditor General of India—had had its moments of glory before: the Mundhra jeep scandal, the Bofors scam, Coffingate. But it took the 2G spectrum allocation scandal under the nose of Manmohan Singh and the figure of ‘Rs 1,76,000 crore loss’ to give it a near-mythical status. Further hints of gigantic financial transgressions in the parcelling out of natural resources like coal, spectrum, land and gas lent ballast to the anti-corruption movement under Anna Hazare, which the BJP later turned into an anti-Congress one, resulting in a change of government. As he puts his version out between covers, Vinod Rai spoke to Sunit Arora and Lola Nayar.... THIS ARTICLE IS PRICELESS... To read this piece, and more such stories in India's most exciting and exacting magazine, plus get access to our 25-year archives goldmine, please subscribe.

