Ramalinga Raju Ipad case
By Techgirl

In 2008 – 2009, India was rocked by its biggest every technology company scandal.  Satyam founder and Chairman Ramalinga Raju had embezzled funds worth hundreds of millions of dollars and cooked the books with amounts in excess of one billion dollars. Raju confessed in India as he thought he could wriggle his way out of jail.  Unfortunately for Raju, he is still in jail. 

Would you buy an iPad cover made out of Ramalinga Raju’s clothes?  Would anyone pay $500 to buy an iPad cover made out of a fraudster’s shirts, jeans and pants?  Or in an Indian context even his kurta, pyjama and Lungi?

American Bernie Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme which frauded people to the tune to $65 Billion.  Not many people know this but one of the computer systems that Madoff’s company developed was later incorporated into NASDAQ.  At one point in time, Bernie Madoff was even the non executive Chairman of NASDAQ stock market.  Bernie has been imprisoned and will die in jail.

An American businessman purchased all of Bernie Madoff’s old clothes at a Government auction and got them made into iPad cases which he advertised for $500 each.  If you check out his website, every Bernie Madoff clothes iPad case has sold out.

Rightly or wrongly, so much of our urban culture follows the American way of life. Should our Government also look at confiscating and auctioning off everything conmen own?  How much would you pay for an iPad cover made from a lungi worn by tech India’s biggest conman Ramalinga Raju?  I wouldn’t mind paying Rs. 300 to buy a cute, embroidered mobile phone case made out of the saris worn by a certain high profile Minister who has been jailed despite her Father being a key supporter of the current Government.

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog techgirltalk.blogspot.com.  Techgirl has been ejected from Twitter for satirizing an Indian Minister.  Her satire blog has links to her Times of India interview detailing her being kicked out of Twitter, and then being invited back.