A Feast of Vultures: The Hidden Business of Democracy in India

by Josy Joseph

The fact that they can operate with impunity in spite of the criminal cases lodged against them is almost surreal. Everyone has known what the Nanda family’s real business is ever since the HDW defence scandal broke in 1987 and central agencies raided Admiral S.M. Nanda and others, accusing the war hero of being an arms dealer. Officials of the German firm HDW, who were then supplying diesel submarines to the Indian Navy, had confirmed to the Indian ambassador in West Germany that they had paid a commission to the Nandas and some others to secure the submarine deal. Central investigators, including the CBI, raided Admiral Nanda’s home as well as the properties of other family members, and charged them with receiving kickbacks. When I met Admiral Nanda sometime in early 2000, in an overheated room in his mansion in Defence Colony, he told me that his rivals had taken revenge on him by sending the investigators to his house when a family celebration was under way. He spoke of the editor of my newspaper with great affection. It turned out that the London edition of the newspaper for which I worked was owned by the Nandas.